The Book of Names
by Aisu137
Summary: Legend has it that Teigus chose their owners by personality. The legends say that Yatsufusa choses those who can hold a grudge over the smallest of things. The legends say that Murasame is wielded by those who always run from what they don't know. But why does legend mention a book of names?
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone, this is probably (in theory) going to be longer than all the one-shots I've done. So bare with me as I attempt to a multi-chapter story, complete with sporadic updates.

The story idea is basically going to be an AU of Akame and Kurome switched places. Kurome will be in Night Raid and Akame with the Empire still. Akame will be the one betrayed when Kurome leaves. They'll have the same Teigus and personality quips and whatnot.

Now you guys will either hate it, or love it. Hopefully it's the latter and not the former. But we'll see!

Disclamer - I don't even speak Japanese.. I don't own Akame ga Kill.

Pairings - to be decided (if any)

Raiting - T for future language and blood/gore.

Word length - No idea.

* * *

Men and women of all ages walked inside the city. Cute shops lined sides of streets and kids could be seen playing soccer and tag with each other. A little girl could be seen begging a blond man for an ice cream. A beautiful woman standing next to the man laughing at his misfortune. Particularly as the girl looked at him with blue, pleading eyes. The man sighed and pulled a brown leather wallet with a flame sown carefully into the leather. A few crisp notes were pulled out of the wallet and handed over and the little girl received a triple scoop strawberry ice cream cone. A few shops over a young woman stood, flanked by two teens. She was pointing towards a box of sweets with some red filling inside. Her yellow hair rustled in the breeze and the two teens behind her looked bored.

Meanwhile, a young man entered the large city. His green eyes were sparkling with excitement, determination and wonderment. His clothes had seen better days, the pale yellow sweater he wore was speckled with mud and his white shirt looked somewhat brown. His dark grey pants were torn and frayed towards the bottom. Despite this, the diagonally strapped sword that was across his back, under a large hiking backpack, looked to be in pristine condition. His brown hair looked slightly oily, as if he had not properly bathed for a few days. He was from the country, this was very obvious to people living in the city. The yellow haired woman watched him with private amusement from behind her coffee cup a box of highly decorated sweets on the table besides her. The two teens from earlier were no where to be seen. The yellow haired woman took one more sip of her coffee before placing it on the saucer on the table. She picked up the sweets and put a few cold coins on the table as payment. She walked out of the cafe and followed the young man to the barracks, careful to keep a slight distance.

-o-

"While Leone is out shopping-"

"More like swindling," a man interrupted, before shrunk under a heated glare and hastily apologized, "Sorry, Boss. It's true though."

"As I was saying, Leone stayed behind and sent you two back so she could some recon alone on a recent hire. Before I head out though, I'll explain it to you. The client has told us the family in question lures unregistered country men and woman of all ages with sweet words and promises of a warm room and good food. However, the food the country men are given, is laced with some sort of poison, which causes them to fall asleep. Then they are taken to a shed a either tortured by a little girl or drugged by her mother. The father of the household does his own torturing, and the guards know but did nothing, so they must be eliminated as well."

"Is there anything else we should know?"

"Well, as you know I will be leaving for a two or three days, so as usual, Bulat here is in charge. Make sure to listen to him this time Mein." The man leaning against the wall, who must have been Bulat nodded in response to being left in charge and grinned, "Dismissed."

The people in the room nodded before slowly ghosting out of the room and into various hallways to complete their daily routines. The man leaning against the wall, Bulat, walks over to a supply closet and pulls out a mop and bucket. He starts whistling happily and begins mopping the wooden floors. A green haired man, who had interrupted the Boss, headed outside into the forest to check on something. A pink haired woman headed to do the ever increasing amounts of laundry. A purple haired woman walked over to the dining room table, by the kitchen, and pulled out a book from a bookshelf. She opened it to the middle and started reading.

The youngest walked into the kitchen, she could not have been older than 15. Once in the kitchen she happily skipped around the center island, which was covered in various seasonal berries. The teenager happily popped a green grape into her waiting mouth, a slightly older blond man watched her attentively with angelic blue eyes. After a few minutes, the girl frowned unhappily as she realized she had eaten all of the fruits on the island in the kitchen. She sighed and turned around and looked around for something. She grinned happily and practically ran towards a brown sack on the counter. She opened the sack, pure elation on her face, and started to devour the sack's contents.

Throughout the hideout, a clock chimed. The girl stopped eating for a moment, and waited for it stop chiming. After twelve chimes it stopped, and the girl ate one last cookie before heading outside, the blond man following her.

The girl returned when the clock chimed seventeen times. Behind her, the same man carried a large basket. The basket looked filled with some sort of fish. The man dropped the basket onto the center island in the kitchen. The girl opened the basket and brought out one of the fish. She grabbed a knife from a nearby knife block, and started to prepare the fish to be eaten. A spine was removed, followed by the inedible innards of the fish.

"Hey Natala, would it kill you help me?" The girl complained when she noticed the blond man had returned to his post in the corner, "I know you can cook, you helped _her."_

The man nodded and grabbed a fish from the basket and grabbed his own knife and together, the two silently prepared the fish. After about half an hour, the seven fish were prepped and ready to be cooked. The man walked over to the bit of the kitchen that had no counters or cabinets. He bent down and cleared out the used wood and replaced it with new wood and lit the pit. He walked back over to the girl, and the two carried the fish over to the roaring fire. They placed the fish on a metal grill and waited.

The clock chimed nineteen times, and almost immediately, people rushed into the room sitting at different spots at the table. The purple haired girl that was reading had not moved. The girl from earlier walked in with steaming plates of fish and lemon. Another person wearing cowgirl attire walked in with two large bowls of rice. A large gorilla-like creature walked in, a bowl of fruit (where they got more fruit is a mystery) carefully carried in his large clumsy hands. Two older gentlemen walked into the room next with napkins, placemats, silverware, smaller plates, and cups followed. Finally, the blond man from before walked into the room carrying the remaining plates of fish. The servers disappeared one by one till it was only the girl left after they placed their food on the table.

"Fancy, Kurome," Bulat said from his spot at the head of the table, "Special occasion?"

The girl, now dubbed as Kurome, shook her head, "Nope! I just wanted to make fish, and we have too much rice, no room for my flour for cookies."

"I should've known," the green haired man groaned before dishing himself some rice and passing the bowl left towards the purple haired girl. The group ate their food, making pleasant conversation on what was taking Leone so long, she was going to miss dinner.

"I'm back!" A voice echoed throughout the hideout.

"In here!" the pink haired girl responded, her voice just as loud, much to the irritation of her dinner mates.

"Hey, Leone," Bulat said, "did you confirm the mission? Do we have something to do tonight?"

Leone grimaced slightly, "Yeah. The mother does indeed like to drug her victims. The girl likes torturing people. The father likes cutting off pieces of his victims little by little," the group flinched a bit, except Kurome, "Also, I swindled a guy today."

The green haired man snorted, "I told you so."

"Shut it, Lubbock. Anyway, two things. The first, Kurome, I have a gift for you." The girl perked up and opened her hands in excitement. Leone placed a box of sweets from earlier into her hand, "Enjoy, Kiddo."

Kurome made a face at "kiddo" but nodded and happily started munching on the sweets, her dinner already gone.

"The second thing is, the guy I took this from seemed pretty strong. If we see him again, it's worth trying to recruit him to the Revolutionary Army. We leave in fifteen minutes, by the way."

The group nodded and quickly tossed their plates into the kitchen sink, before rushing off once again to different parts of the place to prepare for the upcoming mission.

* * *

Alright, so I severely lengthened this chapter (as promised, just took we awhile). Anyway, all comments and critiques are more than welcome!


	2. Chapter 2

**Hola, que pasa? That's all the Spanish I know, well I know "cow" and like lemonade, not sure how those two are related though. Anyway! I have come back, after much careful consideration (from your amazing reviews), and I apologize for the lack of detail in the first chapter, and I will be re-uploading it later with much more detail. Eventually. That chapter was more or less a shot in the dark, a lure so to speak, for interest in the story. And I'm pleasantly surprised that there is interest in this story. Some parts will be cannon to the manga/anime and some will be of my own creation, obviously, since some things Kurome can do that Akame can't and vice versa. Like reaching up to top shelves. **

Disclamer - I do not own Akame ga Kill, I don't even speak Japanese, I speak Chinese.

Paring(s) - To be decided

Word Length - Unknown

Rating - T, blood, gore, some language

* * *

"Killing instinct?" the green-eyed boy questioned jolting from his sleep, before quickly grabbing his sword that was resting upon a very expensive bed side table before leaping out of bed. The boy, well a young man really, raced out of the room and down the expensive wood floors, alongside oil paintings and sporadic tables with vases and plants.

He paused next to a large glass window, as something caught his eye. He stared out the window in amazement and fear. Five figures stood motionless atop thin wires. They all of them carried some sort of weapon.. The young man recognized the figures on the wires, he saw them earlier on a Wanted Poster, this group, was Night Raid!

The man in the wires that was crouching opened his mouth and said a few things to his companions.. Two figures fell from the wires, a man and young girl both drawing their weapons in the ready stance. The green-eyed young man watched the guards shout something to each other, and being inside, he couldn't hear what was said. _They've got this. _He thought determinedly. He watched in horror as one of the guards was pierced by a thrown spear. Another guard taken down by the young girl that fell from the wire. The third guard started to run, but barely made it a single foot before he was shot down. _Taken down in an instant. I must go protect the people that took me in. _

The young man started running through the house again, he saw the girl who took him in being guarded by a guard carrying a gun, he quickly made his way towards them.

-o-

"Leone, you know what to do. Sheele should've taken care of the mother by now. I trust you to take care of the father," Lubbock said, "Kurome, go track down the daughter. She is to be eliminated as well." He paused, and stared at the girl who grinned.

The young girl raised her Teigu in the air, and out of the ground, came that man from before. The blond haired man with angelic blue eyes. Before, the blond haired man wore nothing covering his face, but now a mask covers the lower half of his face. He was dressed in a long trench coat with a green and blue scarf, to complete the outfit he wears pants with knee-height boots.

"Come on Natala! Can't let the others have all the fun," the girl giggled happily before running away. Natala sighed again, and glared towards the people on the wires, as if to say _this is all your fault. _However, he still ran after the girl dressed in the black sailor's uniform. While Natala was running, he pulled from his back a spear like weapon.

* * *

The green-eyed man stopped in a clearing, finally catching up to the girl who took him in from the streets, panting heavily he asked, "What can I do to help?"

The guard exhaled in relief and said, "You guard us from outside, we'll hide in the shed!"

The green-eyed man accepted his task and turned around, withdrawing the sword from his back. All of a sudden two people appeared in front of him. The green-eyed man tensed and got into an attack position. In the blink of an eye, the newcomers vanished, but the boy felt the heel of a shoe press into his forehead and the light teasing tone declaring him not a target before he was pushed down to the ground. The boy could do nothing but watch as the girl completed some insane dodges effortlessly avoiding the spray of the guard's bullets.

The girl got closer and closer before she tsked in mock disapproval, "Never pay too much attention to me."

The guard couldn't even reply with before his head was sliced off by the man dressed in the trench coat. The man in the trench coat turned towards his partner, silently asking for more orders. The other one did not respond, but instead turned to the trembling rich girl, with untamable hair and a light blue and white dress, and raised her sword.

"I'm going to kill you now," was the uttered phrase, the tone almost pleased. The green-eyed man, having finally come to his sense, launched himself towards the strange girl swinging his sword like a madman. Unfortunately, he missed.

The other one frowned and stared at him confused, "Why attack me? You aren't a target, you know."

"Yeah, but you plan on killing this girl here right?"

"Yep!"

"Yep?!

"If you get in the way Natala and I will probably have to kill you. Sorry."

Tatsumi frowned, that tone didn't sound particularly apologetic, "Is that supposed to scare me off?! I can't just run!"

"Is that so? Oh well. Natala, help me eliminate this one, he just became a target."

Unknown the the two fighters, or rather two fighters, an undead corpse, and a mass-murderer, another member of Night Raid had just finished cleaning up their assigned target, and was complaining about how dirty killing him had been. She had been walking towards the clearing when she noticed that her comrade, hadn't finished up. _How interesting, Kurome hasn't finished this by no- oh wow. Just how unlucky can one guy get? _She thought to herself when she noticed it was the young man she took all that money from earlier. What was his name again? T? A? Something like that.

"How can I protect and save my entire village, if I can't save one girl!?" He shouted at Kurome, who smirked amused.

"So be it, you have sealed your fate," was the monotoned reply, the smile ruining the effect though.

The brown-haired and green eyed man rushed towards the girl at the same time she rushed towards him, their swords clashing, a ringing sound echoed throughout the surrounding forest. _Damn, this chick is strong, for her age_ he thought to himself. He broke the stand-off and slashed wildly. The girl easily dodged and flipped mid air, before kicking him. This knocked him off balance, she rushed up and stabbed his chest, directly over the heart.

He fell to the ground, motionless. Nevertheless, the girl didn't lower her guard, "I know you're not dead," she said, "I didn't feel flesh." Answering the unasked question.

"The elder of my village told me to keep the village by my heart, and they'd always protect me," he said confidently, reaching into his shirt and pulling out a unique wooden statue, now bearing a deep scratch to its frame.

The figure at the edge of the forest watched, impressed that he managed to survive one of Kurome's hits.

"You're irritating," the figure complained, twirling the sword in her hand lazily before raising it behind her head, "I'm glad I get to kill you though, soon you'll be in a better place." The blond man, Natala, was standing behind this black eyed girl almost amused, his arms crossed across his chest. His spear, thankfully, was on his back.

"Wait a second! It's not like we're at war or anything! If it's money you're after, surely you could've just asked! You're going to kill an innocent girl?!" He protested, waving his arms like a madman. Just as the blade was about to pierce his neck, something pulled the girl with the insane katana back.

"Hold up!"

"What the hell do you want?" the girl demanded, before her tone turned whiny "I almost got a new toy!"

"Sorry about that, Kurome, but I owe this kid a favor. I may or may not have swindled him earlier."

"You're the lady from before, with the boobs!" he gasped in realization.

"Yep! That's me, the pretty lady. Now what did you say about killing innocents?" Boob lady asked, "Follow me."

She kicked the door open with ease, her yellow pawed hands crossed in front of her body, and allowed the boy to see within the contents of the shed. Almost immediately, all the blood drained from his face. Dead corpses were strewn across the room, all in chains or cages, a few hung from their necks. Most prominently, a girl with beautiful long dark hair, large scratches and cuts laced her naked body. A single purple and white flower decorated her hair.

"Sayo..." the man whispered, "Hey Sayo, wake up!"

"The people of this house did this, and because the guards knew and did nothing about it, they were killed as well. This is what this house really is."

"Are you really going to believe them!? Their strangers! She tried to kill you! We took you in for the night, we fed you, we were going to get you into the military at a high rank!" the, up until recently, quiet blond shouted, "Besides I had no idea this was here!"

"Tatsumi.. is that you?" A figure in the dark groaned, "That girl, she lured Sayo and I to her house, she murdered Sayo! She tortured her for hours!" a man moaned from the darkness, the sound of some liquid being expelled from his mouth followed his words shortly after.

"Is that true..? Ms. Aria?" the now identified man as Tatsumi asked.

"No of course not! But besides that, even if it were true. How dare that girl have perfectly straight hair! I spend hours trying to manage mine, and her's is _so _perfect it's **disgusting-" **The girl couldn't finish her sentence, Tatsumi had sliced her throat open in anger.

"Ieyasu!"

The only unidentified person, the boob lady, ripped the doors to the cage open and Tatsumi got the blood covered man out of the cage.

"It will please you to know.. Sayo.. she.. never.. gave.." Ieyasu panted "Gave.. in! I think.. Master Ieyasu .. deserves an ending just.. as cool!" He reached a hand up in a clenched fist before going limp, and dying.

"The mother of this house liked drugging her victims, and it seemed like this man was holding on just through sheer will power," Kurome said, her tone slightly impressed, "Natala, dismissed. Let's go home."

"Wait let's bring this kid back with us! He shows promise, maybe even skill!"

The pair of girls walked towards their comrades, Boob Lady dragging Tatsumi behind her, completely ignoring his screaming and protesting.

"Bought time you showed up, and what is that?" the pink haired lady atop the wires demanded.

Boob Lady dropped Tatsumi on the roof top and said happily, "Our new recruit!"

"WHAT?! I never agreed to any of this!" Tatsumi protested unhappily.

"Leone has something on her mind now, and it's not worth fighting her on it." Kurome said, her tone less than amused.

"That's right! You know me so well! Welcome, to Night Raid! An assassination group for the rebellion! Bulat, I'll have you grab him."

"The armored man nodded, and picked Tatsumi up before calmly jumping off the wires, "Let's go home."

* * *

**I know that ending was a bit rough, and a bit umm.. unedited and with little to no detail, but I've got a week off school here pretty soon, and I have plans to edit both chapters, and any other chapters I put up between then and now.**

**I figure that by the time I've got all of these chapters updated, this chapter alone is looking to be around 3000 words, so anyway, stay tuned for that, and as always, I'm open to ideas for some one-shots (no seriously, I'm running out)**

**As always, reviews are welcome.**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclamer - I do not own Akame ga Kill, I don't even speak Japanese, I speak Chinese.

Paring(s) - To be decided

Word Length - Unknown

Rating - T, blood, gore, some language

* * *

Tatsumi lay on the top of a hill kneeling in front of two small gravestones, hands pressed together and in front of his chest. His head was bowed respectively, and he was murmuring something, probably asking for strength or guidance. A large chested woman suddenly hugged him behind unexpectedly, and to his immediate displeasure for he started shouting at her.

Neither the woman nor the man noticed a young girl watching them from within a secluded, super secret, hide-out. Her sad black eyes sharpened with disapproval.

* * *

"Tatsumi, this is Sheele." Leone said, gesturing to a slender woman with long purple hair and matching purple eyes. She wore a revealing sleeveless lilac Asian styled dress with detached lilac arm sleeves and white boots. She wore some-what frameless glasses and had a scar on her right cheek, a little before her right eye.

Sheele smiled at Tatsumi, "You haven't decided to join us yet?"

"Not yet."

"Give him some encouragement, Sheele!"

Sheele's posture turned thoughtful, and raising one hand up from her book and the table she was sitting at, she raised one finger and pointed at the ceiling and without looking at Tatsumi said, "Well, now that you know the location of our base," the glass in her glasses suddenly turned white from the glare of the light, and continued almost casually "You'll be killed if you don't join us."

"Your encouragement to join is _so _encouraging, I could _die," c_ame the sarcastic reply from our brown-haired friend.

"You should consider this opportunity very carefully," was Sheele's last words before she turned her attention to the yellow covered book she was previously reading.

_100 Ways to Cure Being an Airhead? _Tatsumi thought to himself _It really is an assembly of wackos! _

"Wait just what do you think you're doing Leone?! Inviting him to our base so calmly? I haven't even approved him." A new obnoxious voice called from elsewhere in the room. The newcomer was had very long pink hair tied in twin-tails on the right and left sides of her head complete with big pink eyes and a pink outfit.

"But he's one of us," was the calm steady reply from Leone.

"Again, I haven't even approved him!" She walked up to Tatsumi suspiciously and stared at him for a few seconds before snorting dismissively "Nope! You don't look like you'll be able to keep up with us professional killers, after all, you're far too innocent!"

"Why you!-" Tatsumi raged.

"Ignore Mine, this is how she treats _everyone," _Leone said rolling her eyes.

* * *

Leone lead Tatsumi through a maze of hallways and rooms before reaching the training grounds. She pointed towards a well built man, with defined muscles, and carefully styled black hair in white training pants. The man was twirling a wooden staff around like, well, a boss. His form was near perfect, and the way he moved was the clear definition of power and accuracy. Tatsumi watched in amazement as the training man completed his routine.

_"_The man who looks like he reeks of sweat, is Bulat."

The man let out a defiant cry and did the finishing routine in his moveset, the stick was swung around his body actually making the air act like wind, blowing everyone's hair and clothes out of harder.

"Oh hey! You must be the kid from the other day," the man said, noticing them there for the first time.

"How do you know who I am?"

"Right, this is the first time you've seen me like this isn't it?" the man pointed to himself, "I'm the man in the armor."

Tatsumi's eyes colored with admiration and recognition. The man extended an arm, "I'm Bulat, nice to meet you," a wink followed shortly.

"He's gay," Leone deadpanned.

"Hey hey hey! He might get the wrong idea!"

_He's not even denying it... _Tatsumi thought, I'm stuck with a bunch of weirdos..

* * *

"It's almost time for Miss Leone's bath! I won't chicken out now!" a sinister voice sounded from beneath the bushes and trees looking into an open hot springs with a pair of binoculars, hoping to get lucky.

"Having fun there Lubbock?" a sweet voice asked calmly, easily twisting the man's arm around his back, breaking a few fingers.

"No, I can still do this!" he defiantly replied, despite the obvious pain.

"Then it's your arm next," was the calm reply, "that aside, this idiot here is Lubbock."

Lubbock was a young man with short green hair and strange red goggles on top of his head. He wore a long green jacket with a fur trimmed hood over a white and red shirt and blue jeans. He wore it with brown shoes.

* * *

Tatsumi and Leone walked along the rocky bank of a nearby river, "Umm... let's see here.. who's next.."

"I've had enough," Tatsumi cut in wearily. There was only some much insanity a man could take without going insane!

"But you're about to meet a cute girl next!" Leone protested dragging Tatsumi along.

They reached a somewhat protected area.. and a large.. cake? _I'm meeting a cake? _Tatsumi thought confused until he say a young girl watching the flames calmly, a sheathed katana at her side. The girl glanced up at her cooking cake and noticed it had reached the golden brown of perfection. She swiftly stood up, katana in hand. Unsheathing the previously resting katana she lived it above her head and from the tips a black orb appeared before shooting black lightning around her. Almost immediately two figures crawled out of the ground. The first was Natala, if Tatsumi remembered correctly, the new one was unknown.

The new thing looked like a cowboy, hat, boots, gloves, and bandana. Fit for any rodeo. Only, instead of rope, she bore gun holsters, and thankfully for the time being those guns were secured in through pouches. Natala frowned at Kurome but took the collapsable spear from his back and gently propped it under the cooked cake. The new person, not the girl, mind you, had a cooling rack all set up and Natala placed the cake onto it. He raised up his fingers to represent the number 10 and cut up the cake into pieces a moment later. Perfectly sized, beautiful, delicious smelling pieces of chocolate cake with chocolate icing and sprinkles. Tatsumi moaned it smelled so good.

"Hey Kurome! What'cha doing?"

"Is it not obvious I made a cake," Kurome monotoned taking a slice, the two adults around her also taking slices for themselves. "You should have a piece as well, Leone."

"Oh thanks!" Leone said eagerly easily swooping in and grabbing a slice of delicious cake.

"You haven't decided to join us then? I can not give you any of this cake,"

"That's fine," Tatsumi said disappointed.

"Kurome, you look dressed up tonight, special occasion? Meeting a boy?" Leone teased looking for conversation or a playful argument.

Three words stopped Leone dead, "Boss is back."

"Yo," a new voice said, raising a olive green mechanical arm skyward.

"Hey boss! You're back! Bring any souvenirs?" Leone requested eagerly, her cake gone.

"Before that.. It seems you went over the given time limit on your assignment Leone, that's not good. You like playing with your kill too much," the newcomer raised her hand towards Leone's vanishing form and the arm shot out of its position, a thin cord connecting the attached part and the part streaming towards Leone.

"Okay okay okay! I'm sorry, so very sorry, just please stop the screeching!" Leone cried in anguish.

The screeching thankfully stopped, "Who is this?" the newcomer asked, the question directed towards Tatsumi.

"Boss, this is the new recruit, or someone that might be joining us, rather." Leone replied, her tone going serious.

"Does he show potential?"

"He does," was the grave reply.

"Kurome! Gather the others, I want to hear more about the mission you went on, as well as more about this young man."

"Understood."

* * *

**Alright, I think that's a wrap! Tatsumi has met a majority of the members of Night Raid, and I did cake instead of birds. I figured Kurome was a cake person, I still wanted to play into that dangerous "I grew up in the wild" thing, but not have meat. **

**Comments? Rates? Reviews? Flames? All can go in the "review" section if you please.**

**Preview - **

**"There's something you need to know... Tatsumi..."**

**"What?"**

**"Your pants are on backward."**


	4. Chapter 4

"So Tatsumi, what brings you to the Empire's home?"

"Well, I live in a small village, not that it's much of a surprise, far to the north, lots of snow and mountains. Life is pretty hard up there, since it's so cold, our village has a lot of famines. I want to help change the future of our village. There were three of us to begin with, Sayo, Ieyasu, and I. We were the villages' only hope to begin with, we're the most able bodied at least, when it comes to being in the army. So we set off to join the army and make a name for ourself. I guess that didn't work, did it? Sayo and Ieyasu are dead, and I'm all alone," Tatsumi explained,

"Interesting, I think you'll fit right in with Night Raid."

"What exactly is Night Raid?"

"Well, we basically eliminate the scum of the Capitol while we wait for the Revolutionary Army to catch up," eyepatch lady explained.

"Catch up?"

"I assume you've heard of the Revolutionary Army?" receiving a small nod from Tatsumi, "We basically, are the small elite team of the Army. We exterminate what we can, without the true force of an army, though on our own, we do still pack a punch."

"So you kill the corrupt?"

"Yes, and when the time comes, we, Night Raid, will be the ones who assassinate the Prime Minister, the true reason this country is evil and corrupt. So what do you say, Tatsumi, will you join us?"

"You guys are like secret forces of justice!" Tatsumi cried in awe.

The room burst into laughter, "What we do is still murder, Tatsumi." Leone called from her place against the wall. Tatsumi's spirits dampened a little.

"I assume I'm killed if I don't join you?"

"No, but we can't let you go back. You'll be employed somewhere else in the Army, perhaps in the blacksmiths or stables. We'd have a use for you," the woman extended her metal arm, "What do you say Tatsumi, with that in mind, how would you like to join Night Raid?"

"I will."

"You know it is not guaranteed you'll be able to go back to your village if you join us."

"That's fine, if it means they will make it through the winters without famine or disease, that's fine with me!" Tatsumi's green eyes sharpened with determination.

"Very well, welcome to the life of carnage!" The woman sitting in the throne then turned to Kurome, "Kurome, you're in charge of training Tatsumi."

"Okay."

"Feel free to kill him if he becomes too difficult or misbehaves."

"Mmm," was her response, "Got it."

_Kill me? Mmm?! I'm so, ultimately and thoroughly screwed!_

* * *

Tatsumi was peeling potatoes in an unlit kitchen, the setting sun the only source of light, and it wasn't much at that. Kurome, his "mentor" was sitting on the island counter, opposite the sink, picking food to eat out of the fruit basket. She plucked a purple grape into her mouth contently, before grinning to herself. _Time to have a little fun._

"Hey Tatsumi, can you please get that jar from the cabinet right about your head?" Kurome called innocently.

"Sure, no problem." Tatsumi grabbed the jar and was astounded by how much it weighed. He let it fall onto the counter next to the fruit arrangement, Kurome opened the jar lid, and found her prize. The jar was packed to the brim of cookies. It was the ultimate cookie jar. Inside were all assortments of filled cookies, some of them were chocolate chip, others oatmeal raisin, but most were a red jam filled cookie. Kurome grinned a grabbed a few and began chowing down on the cookies.

"Aren't you going to ruin your appetite?" Tatsumi asked, concerned.

"Mind your own business, and let me eat in peace."

"Are you going to help at all? You're supposed to be mentoring me! Not eating!" Tatsumi complained.

"Hey-o Tatsumi!" Leone cried waving her hand in greeting, "You got food ready? Need me to help set the table?"

"Yes _I _have the food ready, my _"mentor" _is supposed to be **helping **me, but uh she isn't," Tatsumi did, and unfortunately, Kurome was completely oblivious to the stress of his voice on a few of his words. She happily chomped on her.. grapes? Wait what? Wasn't she just eating cookies a couple seconds. Tatsumi whipped his head around and found the cookie jar out of sight. _Hmm.. Suspicious _

* * *

Tatsumi and Kurome were trudging up a large mountain before arriving at a picturesque view. Down below the edge of the path was a sparkling blue and turquoise lake. It looked to go pretty deep, so who knows what was in it!

Kurome dropped the basic off of her back, and suddenly tore off her clothes, much to Tatsumi's embarrassment.

"Why are you so concerned?" Kurome's voice asked, "Your face is turning an unhealthy shade of red, you know."

Tatsumi started fumbling of his words before he realized Kurome was wearing a red and black striped two piece bathing suit. "Oh never mind," he said sheepishly, "So what are we doing today?"

"We're going to hunt the fish that live in this lake. They make excellent dinners. On top of that, it's scales, when combined with the right ingredients, can make a delicious sauce for a cake recipe I want to try. The key is to hide your presence, like so." Kurome explained before diving perfectly into the water, seconds later three or four fish came flying out of the water and into her basket.

"Awesome!" Tatsumi exclaimed, Kurome might be rubbish help in the kitchen, but damn, she could do some pretty cool things. Tatsumi tore of his clothes hurriedly, "Let's do this!"

After three hours, Kurome's basket was over-flowing with fish, and she was sitting up at the cliff they first dived off from. Tatsumi, unfortunately for him, had managed to catch a single fish, and that was by luck.

Tatsumi's head popped out from under the water, "I'm never going to get this!"

"If you hide your presence, your basket will be over-flowing like mine is," why the calm reply.

"Do you want me to succeed?"

"Whether you succeed or not is by your own choice, but it's getting late, we should probably get back," Kurome called down.

The black-eyed girl stood up and stretched before putting her black sailor uniform and red side skirt back in place. She slid her red belt on, and made sure to fix her red gauntlets in the right positions before picking up her fish filled basket up. She made sure her hair was in it's customary twin-tail style before slowing walking back down to the Hideout.

Tatsumi cried out begging Kurome to wait for him, in response she called over her shoulder, "Tatsumi, your pants are own backwards!"

* * *

**1 - Baozi is an Asian cuisine, served at all times of the day, but it's a common breakfast food. It can be filled with a variety of different things, usually meat and vegetables, as well as a red bean paste. Occasionally, there can be sesame seeds in it as well. It can be friend or steamed. Steamed is better, naturally. **

**We're finally getting into the fun parts of this book, where I can really put my own spin on this, around Episode.. I'd say 4 or 5 is when the story will drastically change, especially around Episode 8 (going by the anime here, though I did read the manga). **

**As always, rate and review please. **


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer - I don't own Akame ga Kill, nor claim to. But people can dream right?

Rating - T (gore, language, suggestive themes, dark themes)

Words - Unknown

Pairing(s) - Yet to be decided, if there are some.

* * *

Four people were sitting at a wooden dining table, fish heads littering the table, the rest of the body was made into various dishes. One would expect a peaceful conversation like "How was your day?" or "Did you get that new sword you wanted?" Or really, anything normal, but no.

"Do you do anything around here!?" Tatsumi shouted at Kurome.

"I do."

"Are you sure? See, I remember me preparing this entire meal. All of it. Setting the table, getting the plates, serving. You didn't even notice the others leaving. You were to absorbed in "Kurome-World" to notice anything outside that creepy blonde guy, who has yet to say a word, and eating those damn snacks!"

Kurome swallowed her food, before reaching across the table and grabbing what looked like fish flank and lemon sauce and putting a bit on her plate, before proceeding to eat that. Our brown haired friend stared incredulously before and was about to say something before Leone interrupted.

"I've got a hire for us."

"Have you confirmed it?" Boss asked.

"I have, they are guilty. Our targets are Ogre and Gamal." Leone placed two pictures on the table. The picture on the left was a muscular large man, with black hair, but grayed on the sides of his head. He wore his hair in a sort of spiky fashion, and he had a gapping hole where his left eye should have been. He was obviously battle ready, and of high rank in the capital. He wore the gray armor of the Imperial Guards. The picture on the right was of an overweight, bald man. He had a small nose and large mouth, and seemed capable of eating anything.

"As I understand it, Gamal pays Ogre large sums of money, and every time he commits a crime, he has Ogre create lies so he can frame someone else. Money is no issue for Gamal, as he is a wealthy man who sells oil, this means that there is little chance of such events and deeds stopping anytime soon. This is the pay." Leone tosses a large sack on the table, easily double what she "borrowed" from Tatsumi a few days ago.

"That's a lot of money, how'd she get it all?"

"I smelled vernal diseases on her, I suspect, and would not be surprised, if she sold her body multiple times to get this much money."

"Hmm.. Very well! Night raid will accept this request," Najenda, the Boss, replied.

"The target, Ogre, is a captain in the Imperial Guard, and is usually surrounded by his students and comrades. The only time he's alone is when he comes back from drinking but still he's in public view, so it's going to be hard to take him out. In addition to that, he is a talented swordsman and is very cautious. Gamal, is a piece of cake."

"Perhaps we should wait until the others come back," Najenda said thoughtfully before lighting another cigarette, "It'll be hard for people with known faces to get him, particularly Kurome." At that Kurome slumped in her chair, disappointed she would be unable to take out, and possibly get a decent fight, out of Ogre.

Leone raised her hand as a volunteer, claiming she could do it, and since the opponent looked tough, she was more than willing to.

Kurome, wanting to have some say, since she was obviously out of the fun, "Why don't we wait for the others to come back?"

"Yeah, but we don't know when they'll be back, do we?"

"That's true," Najenda said almost to herself, before taking a puff of her cigar.

"So why don't we do it?" Tatsumi exclaimed slamming his open palm on the table.

"Oh, and you can beat Ogre?" Najenda said almost amused at the prospect.

Tatsumi stood up with a hand clenched in a fist, "If these two are as big of a scumbag, as I'm told, then I can kill Ogre."

Kurome snorted, "I doubt that. You killed the girl out of hatred. I doubt you can consciously kill someone who has done nothing wrong to you."

"Oh yeah? You wanna bet?"

"Tatsumi, are you sure you can do this?" Najenda asked.

"Yes, I'm positive."

"Then that is your job. Kurome, Leone, your target is Gamal."

"Roger."

"Got it boss!"

"Tatsumi," Kurome's voice broke through Tatsumi's excitement at proving himself, "Know this from here on, arrogance will only get you killed. However, once you manage your first assignment, you'll be consider legitimate."

With that Kurome left the room. Leone glanced at Tatsumi, "I'll show you where Ogre's most likely to be when we plan to take him out."

_What does it take to prove myself to Kurome? _Tatsumi wondered. _Earlier, when she said that arrogance would only get me killed, she seemed saddened, what has happened in that kid's life to make her so broken?_

OoOoOoOoOoO

Leone brought Tatsumi to a busy street and introducing it as "Main Street", and it was the best place to get Ogre alone. She explained that there were plenty of alley ways to slip into and kill him without problems. She quizzed him on different streets that connected to Main Street, and made sure he had managed to memorize the place by asking him to take her to different shops along the street. On numerous occasions she asked him to walk the exact route that Ogre was most likely to take with her and the other less likely routes.

As they were about to leave, Leone put an arm on Tatsumi's shoulder halting his movement. "Listen, about Kurome. She's had an interesting past. When she was younger, she and her older sister were sold by their parents and bought by the capital. They were raised to become the perfect assassins as well as a group of other kids. Over the years, she watched many of her friends die. The man that follows her around sometimes, Natala? That was someone that Kurome grew up with. He was killed in a mission."

"How does Kurome keep him around then? Does that mean I can get Sayo back?" Tatsumi exclaimed excited by the prospect.

"No, you can't. It's different, I'll explain later."

"Oh okay.. but anyway, back to your story, you're saying I'm incapable of being a professional killer because I'm too nice."

"Yes."

"Then this is my chance to prove you wrong!"

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Now that I'm done in the bathroom, perhaps I'll have another go-," a bald-headed said to himself wiping his hands with a dirty white cloth. The baldy was none other than Gamal.

"I'll give you a go!" Leone whispered coldly in his year, wrapping transfigured paws around his neck and mouth to get him in place as well as prevent him from making noise.

Kurome suddenly appeared in front of Gamal, easily striking his stomach, killing him.

"Now it's up to Tatsumi," Leone said to no one in particular, Kurome gave a small hum of doubtful agreement.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Ogre, the other target, was walking down main street. His cheeks were lightly flushed, a tell-tale sign of someone who had recently been out for a drink or two, or five. Tatsumi trailed him, his white coat on and the hood up, shielding his face from view.

"Excuse me, Ogre sir?"

"Yes?"

"May I speak with you?"

"Of course, go for it."

"Perhaps here.. is not the best place in the world."

Ogre nodded in agreement and allowed Tatsumi to take him to a deserted street. _I don't sense anyone else here..._Ogre thought to himself.

"Hey kid, enough already, just tell me."

"Oh right!" Tatsumi explained before internally begging his friends to give him strength before he abruptly turned around and sunk to his knees in a kowtow bow. "Please oh Great and Noble Ogre the Powerful, please recruit me into the Imperial Army! I need to earn money to send to my family!"

Ogre groaned and rubbed the back of his neck in irritation, "I know it was going to be something like this. Look just go through the usual process." He turned around and headed back towards main street. He dismissively waved his hand in a plain gesture of goodbye.

"But.. in this recession, getting accepted is hard.." Tatsumi said slowly, before sightly letting his arm grasp his sword silently. He slowly drew it while speaking.

"That's how it has to be," Ogre replied carelessly, but sensing some danger, put his right hand on the hilt of the sword strapped to his side.

He turned around drawing it, but Tatsumi was too fast, and in a quick white blur, Tatsumi raced at Ogre. While Ogre was turning to face the spot Tatsumi was at, was when Tatsumi struck. His sword piercing Ogre's armor horizontally across his chest. Ogre fell to the ground mumbling about insane speed and unmatched strength.

Tatsumi stood triumphantly in success. Before saying out loud "I did it! I told them I would be able to do it, and without a scratch!" Tatsumi was oblivious to the approaching Ogre, who had silently raised his sword ready for the kill. At the last possible safe moment, Tatsumi sense Ogre's presence and hurriedly blocked with his sword, but the power behind the Ogre's blow sent Tatsumi flying backward.

"As if, I, Ogre the Demon, could be defeated in one blow. Tell me boy, who hired you?" Ogre attacked Tatsumi in a series of quick strikes that Tatsumi was having difficulty blocking. One strike sent Tatsumi slamming against the wall of a house. Ogre started listing off different frames he had made before coming up onto his most recent about a young man. "I bet it was the fiancé of a man I just framed. I knew I should've killed her. Oh well, I can start now. First I'll kill you, then I'll frame the rest of her family for something."

As Ogre was talking Tatsumi thought about how rotten the capital really was. _I won't allow scum like him to walk in this world. I'll kill him. I'll survive. I will save my village, one way or another._ Tatsumi thought determinedly before rushing at Ogre, his sword ready for the kill. Tatsumi leapt up into the air and swung his sword down to kill Ogre vertically. Ogre blocked before using his immense strength to lower Tatsumi to the ground, still parrying Tatsumi's blow.

"No it wouldn't be too late now." Ogre said easily, grinning, "In this city, only the strong survive, I will not allow myself to fall to a weakling such as yourself. Besides, I bet you're part of some organization of a weaklings. Night Raid perhaps? Those weaklings don't deserve to be in _my _city."

Something in Tatsumi snapped, and in a surge of strength was able to cut off Ogre's hands. He did a ballet sort of twirling flip before gravity activated and multiplied his speed and weight killing Ogre. While he was killing Ogre, he thought about what he was going to change, who he was going to protect.

He stood above Ogre's dead body, "I won't let other people be like you. Be framed by you. People like you don't belong in this world."

Tatsumi calmly sheathed his sword behind his back, and put the hood on his jacket up before walking away from Ogre's fallen body.

OoOoOoOoO

Tatsumi was in Night Raid's base in front of Najenda's chair spilling the details of his mission.

"See Kurome? I did it, no hesitation, and not a single scratch!"

Kurome frowned before gesturing to Natala, who was leaning against the wall. Natala easily held Tatsumi still while Kurome stripped Tatsumi of his clothes, leaving him only in underpants. Kurome inspected his body closely before she said "Not bad," Kurome stared at him for awhile before she turned around and left the room, Natala followed her shortly.

Before Natala left, he returned Tatsumi's clothes, and smiled apologetically, for he was not wearing anything covering his face. He let his shoulders shrug as if to say _Sorry, but what can I do?_

"Tatsumi, before you go, what have learned from working from Kurome? Depending on what you have learned will depend on whether or not you will move on to another member and train with them."

Tatusmi ran the past few days through his head, _What have I learned? Kurome must've secretly taught me something. Maybe how to eat a lot and not gain weight? No it can't be that.. _"Umm.. she taught me how to fish without a fishing pole?"

Leone laughed and ruffled Tatsumi's hair as she exited, "Not quite, try communication."

"What?! How the hell did she teach me that?! She barely spoke to me! All she did was eat!"

"Yes, but cooking is all about communication. She told you what to prepare and how to prepare it did she not?" Tatsumi frowned slightly before his eyes widened in realization. I guess she did.

Najenda lit another cigarette and announced, "Tatsumi, your next trainer will be Mine."

Tatsumi's legs collapsed and he fell the ground moaning about how the day could not get any worse. Leone took the time to pop her head into the room and inform Tatsumi that she needed him to go shopping with her the next morning. Tatsumi slamed his ahead against the dream begging to be woken up from this terrible nightmare.

OoOoOoOoO

"Mission complete. Target eliminated."

"Excellent work, take a break."

* * *

**Sorry for the wait, so we're finally getting into the parts where I get to design the majority as Akame really started having a big input in the series around here. Since Kurome is taking her place, Kurome will be the one having the impact. **

**Thank you guys for all your support on the story, and I enjoy reading your reviews. **

**Recently I got a review in a different language, and I'm sorry to say, that I have no idea what you said. I'm sorry. I read it, I promise, and I Google Translated it as well, but it didn't make sense to me. I got that you wanted a Kurome x Tatsumi pairing, but besides that.. I have no idea. **

**As for pairings, this is a decent time to bring it up, I have no planned pairings right now. You're welcome to give your suggestions in the comments, and I'll probably make a poll later on my profile for you guys to check out later. **

**Finally, as always, reviews go in the wonderful review box, and I do read them, so suggest away!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer - I own no part of Akame ga Kill, nor do I claim to. **

Pairing(s) - N/A

* * *

Tatsumi woke early, knowing Mine was... well, a bit _difficult. _That's the safe way to say it. He stood outside Mine's closed door that led to her room. _So, first it's Miss. Fish-Without-Pole now it's Miss. Stare-Wrong-And-I-Kill-You. __Why me? I mean, Kurome's lessons were somewhat useful, I suppose I did learn something, but the hell is Mine supposed to teach me? _Tatsumi said internally, with frustration.

Sheele passed Mine's room on her way down to breakfast, causing Tatsumi to stop mumbling internally, "Good morning Tatsumi! How are you?"

Tatsumi smiled, out all of Night Raid, besides Bulat, of course, Sheele made Tatsumi feel welcome. She was considerate of his feelings, and always seemed to make Tatsumi feel better. "I'm.." Tatsumi trailed off, but noticing Sheele's curious look he quickly continued, "I'm fine, just a bit concerned for my safety."

"Oh?" Sheele questioned, titling her head to the side slightly.

"Yeah, I'm training with Mine today, but lo and behold, she isn't here. Figures," Tatsumi complained angrily kicking the wooden planks below his feet.

Sheele, not seeming to understand what was wrong with training Mine informed Tatsumi that Mine slept in often, and it was best to go get her. She made the offer of getting Mine for him, but Najenda, who was walking down to breakfast as well ordered Tatsumi to be left with Mine alone.

"Tatsumi, I'll give you some help," Najenda said, grinning evilly, "It is best you wake Mine up yourself."

With her piece said, she continued onto the dining room, lighting a cigar on her way before casually throwing herself into a chair. Tatsumi groaned aloud in frustration before turning to the door besides him, and raising his hand to knock.

"Mine?" Tatsumi said through the wooden door knocking once before entering the room.

Mine was bent down, clasping the clasp of her bright pink bra, she immediately flushed in embarrassment after a moment or two of staring at Tatsumi, who of course, stared right back. Tatsumi hastily ducked out of the fire of Mine's gone, which had blasted a large hole in the wall, nearly hitting Tatsumi.

"What the hell?!" Tatsumi shouted in outrage, "You could've killed me!"

"That was my intention," Mine said just as angry before she aimed the gun again at Tatsumi, "This time, I won't miss." She placed her finger on the trigger, and Tatsumi, knowing he was not completely doomed, made a mad dash to the door to leave.

"See you down at breakfast!" Tatsumi called over his shoulder at Mine while he was running down the hallway. Mine looked like she was about to give chase before realizing she was dressed in nothing but underwear and a matching bra, would've given Lubbock a field day though. She quickly slammed the door behind Tatsumi and proceeded to get ready for the day.

OoOoOoOoO

Around noon, Mine officially started her "training". And Tatsumi hoped that, for his sake and sanity, that this training would actually be useful. So far? No. He had trained by watching Mine waste time and money by trying on clothes, talking to vendors, and eating various fancy cakes. Of course, not that Mine actually had to pay for any of this, because Tatsumi was there.

Tatsumi, shortly after buying Mine a strawberry cake, was sent to find a place of rest and with a good view to eat the slice of cake. Tatsumi walked around to various areas in the section of the city they were in, and found a group of tables. After receiving permission from the owner to sit down on them, Tatsumi returned to Mine's relative location and called her over. They sat down on black wire-like chairs with holes in them, and a matching table under a white and red sectioned umbrella.

Finally, have finding a proper spot for Her Royal Highness, the pair sat down for a snack. Or rather, Mine sat down for one of her luxury cakes. Mine happily chowed on her strawberry cake, before she sucked on the spoon once to get all of the frosting off before raising the spoon in the air and announced that training was over. Tatsumi's jaw dropped.

"What? You didn't teach me anything!"

Mine was about to reply when she noticed Tatsumi's wandering gaze looking at something in the distance to their right. Mine followed his gaze and saw the gathering of people. "Probably a public execution, they do that sort of thing a lot."

Tatsumi shot to his feet and grabbed Mine's hand, ignoring her protests and her scrambling to grab her weapon before she was dragged behind him. The crowd quickly dispersed after a few minutes, or at least, enough people left to allow Mine and Tatsumi to push to the front.

"How?" Tatsumi whispered to Mine.

"With the current Prime Minister in power, he can get away with a lot, and if he favors you, so can you. These people are probably meant to be an example to show off the Minister's power," Mine whispered before her ears perked.

"Help.. someone.. anyone. The Minister's nephew.. kill him. Bring justice," one of the corpses nailed onto the cross croaked.

Neither Mine nor Tatsumi were able to discern who exactly said to kill the Minister's nephew, but they both accepted the plea. It was probably a crime anyway.

OoOoOoOoO

Tatsumi and Mine reported the job, and within minutes they were to move out. Turns out, the nephew was using his uncle's name to commit heinous crimes and get away with them. Tatsumi's job, much to his displeasure, was guarding Mine while she sniped the target. The others were in charge of disposing of the five guards that were usually within their target's personal space.

Once the target was eliminated, the guards were sure to go after any potential assassins. If one should slip by Team B, then Tatsumi was to deal with it, should he or she come by Mine and Tatsumi's position. Tatsumi sighed as he leaned up against a tree far from the gates of the palace that their target resided in. Tatsumi brought a pair of black binoculars to his eyes trying to see if the target had come out of his dwellings yet. Dropping them in defeat Tatsumi decided to watch Mine. _What concentration.. Even her, there's no one I'm even able to get close to that level of concentration! _Tatsumi thought before Mine's voice jarred him from his thoughts.

"He's here."

Tatsumi hurried to bring the binoculars to his eyes, "Where? Where?" Tatsumi asked as he looked. Finally resting the binoculars viewing the front entrance he indeed saw their target. As well as at least ten other people, including the guards.

"That's too many people! Mine you can't shoot!" Tatsumi exclaimed hurriedly, waving his hands like a madman in attempt to prevent her from shooting.

"Not a problem," was the calm, Kurome-like response. Mine inhaled to calm her heartbeat in concentration before firing off the gun. Direct hit! Tatsumi watched dumbfounded as the Minister's nephew fell to the ground, dead. Immediately alarm bells were rang, and the pair could see five guards shooting off into the forest in attempt to find the killers.

Mine got up calmly and began walking, without waiting for Tatsumi (seems like a pattern?) towards the meeting point. Tatsumi ran to catch up, quickly grabbing his white coat that he had thrown aside while waiting for their target. He made sure, of course, to get his eyes and ears open in case a guard or two came their way.

"How long do you think it'll take for the others to show up?" Tatsumi called.

Mine, a few steps ahead of him thought about that for a moment, "Not long, but, these guys trained at one of the best schools for martial arts in the Empire. Their bound to be strong, should take longer than normal, but not long. Maybe twenty minutes or so to dispatch them."

**Meanwhile...**

"Awww..." Lubbock complained, "You didn't even leave me one!"

"There were only four," Kurome's voice sounded into the clearing, "There should be five. One is missing."

Almost immediately the group raised their guards once again.

OoOoOoOoO

The fifth guard was darting through the forest at astounding speeds, searching for the assassins. He had split up from the other group earlier, and was currently racing towards where he could hear faint voices. He slowed his heartbeat and steadied his movements before quickly looking for an opening. Finding one, he ran towards the girl and boy. The boy, pushed the girl out of the way allowing himself to be tackled.

"Mine! Get out of her!" He shouted.

_Mine? Interesting name. _The man thought before shrugging internally, they'd both be dead soon, such a bother names were.

"Tatsumi! Don't be an idiot, I won't leave you alone with this foolish guard by yourself!" was Mine's quick reply.

The guard, seeing that the pair were slightly distracted while they were talking took that as an opportunity to attack the bo- No Tatsumi. Tatsumi, with lightning like reflexes, blocked the man's incoming fist with the flat part of his sword acting as a shield of sorts. The guard growled before swinging his weaker, less dominant left hand in an uppercut. Tatsumi, seeing the first ahead of time, nimbly jumped out of the way. Tatsumi screamed a battle cry before charging in with his sword swinging down but the guard easily blocked it, and got really close to Tatsumi. The guard has his arms around Tatsumi's arm, and with a quick gesture, Tatsumi screamed in pain and dropped his sword. Before Tatsumi could reclaim his sword, the guard kicked it out arms reach, and threw Tatsumi away against a tree.

The guard laughed menacingly, "As if you two could defeat me, I may not look like it now, but I used to the teacher at the Empire's best martial arts school."

"Oh? Was? What happened? A kid beat you?" Mine taunted raising her gun.

The guard growled, before replying, "No, age beat me. And sadly, I was dismissed. However, due to my experience, I was able to get a position guarding some of the Empire's most important figures. I will not allow you to get away with killing my charge." With that he charged, only to be surprised when Tatsumi gripped his waist.

"Mine shoot!"

"What no! I'll hit you!"

"No you won't, you're a genius marksman right?" Tatsumi replied, his emerald green eyes sparkling with confidence.

Mine concerned face was replaced with her usual trademark, sassy smirk, "You're right, I am." Mine lined her gun up to the man's chest, Tatsumi made sure to do what he could to keep the man still and keep out of the line of fire.

"Let go!" the guard cried in panic, the first time in this fight, concerned for his safety. He continuously pounded into Tatsumi's back in effort to try to dislodge the boy.

"Never! Mine now!" Tatsumi shouted.

A single shot rang off in the clearing. The guard fell to the ground dead, a large hole in his chest. Tatsumi, alive and well, stood up.

"Tatsumi.." Mine started, calmly, almost impressed.

Tatsumi walked over to Mine's location, and flicked her in the forehead, "That was _way _too close!" He lectured pointing to some slightly charred head.

The arguing Tatsumi and Mine were in their own world, and took no notice to the onlookers. The rest of Night Raid watched the pair argue with amused smirks and chuckles. Kurome's eyes held a bit of amusement, though her face blank and empty of all emotion.

"Mission complete. Let's go home," Kurome said to no one in particular before walking away from the scene in the direction of Night Raid's Hideout.

OoOoOoOoO

Deep in the mountains a group of teenagers could be seen sparring. They were all about 15 or 16, no older than 18. The all wore rather strange clothing, none of it was related in any way.

A man stood up and handed out a pair of envelopes to the teenagers once they had finished sparring. He nodded, an obvious sign of dismissal, and the teenagers left the sparring grounds, weapons in hand. The teenagers bore grim faces, but their eyes sparkled with determination, this was their job. They were bred for this.

* * *

**Hello everyone! Sorry for the slightly longer wait than normal, but I hope I made up for it with a slightly longer than normal chapter. **

**Thank you to my reviewers, you guys are amazing. Particularly, Western White Tiger, who was kind enough to provide me with a translation of the review I was having difficulties translating. **

**Also, I'm thinking about getting a beta reader here pretty soon, so in theory the chapters will take longer to come out, but they'll be longer than they are now. **

**As always, please review and rate this chapter. **


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer - I own no part of Akame ga Kill, nor do I claim to.

* * *

Tatsumi and the rest of Night Raid was called from, well various places. He was pretty sure Mine was called from target shooting with someone with a cowgirl's attire and two revolvers. Yet, here Mine was, and the cowgirl no where to be found. Mysterious. He and Bulat were sparring when they were summoned. It was a grave general who found them, but he didn't say a word, only gestured. Obviously, Bulat knew what was up, and follow the strange general without question.

Leone and Lubbock were walking in together, and Sheele was following with her favorite snack. Kurome was already in the room when the others got there, though she looked slightly more exhausted than normal. Tatsumi wondered what was up with her. _Probably didn't eat enough _Tatsumi thought sarcastically.

"Night Raid, your next target is the serial killer that's been tormenting the city. He has been slaughtering not only the everyday folk, but even guards of the Palace. He beheads people in the middle of the night, but no one has been able to find him, nor get a good glance and live," Najenda informed.

"Strong guy!" Tatsumi said.

"We've probably got Zank on our hands," Lubbock said.

"Zank? Who's Zank?" Tatsumi asked confused.

Mine laughed cruelly, "You really are a country boy!" she crowed, "How can you not know who he is?"

Tatsumi's eyes narrowed but before he could respond, Kurome interrupted, "He's someone I'd like to add to my collection at some point," she said wistfully, "Especially if he is in possession of a Teigu, provided that the rumors of him possessing one is true."

"Collection? Teigu?"

"Great timing," Lubbock sad dryly before reaching into the folds of his green jacket. He pulled out a relatively thin leather bound book. The book was very old and frail, but at the same time, looked well preserved. _He was just caring this around?!_

Tatsumi opened the book and flipped through the pages. His green eyes widening in astonishment at the contents of the page.

"Those pages, contain everything that we know about the forty-eight exclusive weapons known as 'Teigus' or 'Imperial Arms'. Each weapon is capable of giving the user incredible strength of different kinds," Najenda's eyes lit up as she started talking about the Teigu.

She explained that there were, as it were, forty-eight in total made around a thousand years ago by the first Emperor. However, due to a civil war, many were spread across the country and lost.

"Pity," Tatsumi said, "I would've liked one, so there are all these pictures. I'm starting to match them with what you guys have." He looked up from the book and glanced at Bulat thinking back to the time Bulat put armor on in front of him.

Bulat grinned, "That's right Tatsumi! We have Teigu."

"So you all have some?" Tatsumi's gaze met green, black, yellow, and pink respectively.

"We do,"

"What do they do?"

"My gun, Pumpkin, uses my emotions as ammo, and the more danger or emotional I feel.." Mine trailed off, "Well, it expresses that emotion into raw power, and the stronger my shots become."

"I bear the Demon Armor Incursio or as some refer it as Demon Binding Incursio. It enhances my strength and prowess in battle. I am also able, provided I have the strength, to become invisible for short periods of time, it is my trump card. Some Teigu have them, some do not. However, it comes at a cost, it is incredibly tiring. If a regular, unprepared and untrained person were to put it on just willy nilly, they would die due to the stress it puts on the body."

Lubbock stepped forward, and from behind his back pulled out some metallic string. Tatsumi's jaw dropped, "String?" he asked disbelievingly.

Lubbock's eyes narrowed and he clutched the string to his chest, wounded. As if Tatsumi had just insulted his favorite toy, "This _string _is known as Protean Cross Tails. It allows me to set traps, sense for danger, create weapons, and do anything I desire, provided I have the mind and string for it. This _string _has saved the lives of Night Raid more than once."

Sheele, seemingly out of nowhere, pulled out a gigantic scissor, "These are the world's most dangerous scissors, capable of cutting through anything," Sheele glanced sideways towards Bulat, "Even Bulat's armor, which like all other armor-type Teigu are impenetrable."

Leone grinned in a feral manner, much like a cat, "My Teigu allows me to transform parts of my body into that of a lions. This gives me better speed and senses. My instincts are more in tune, and I am much much stronger."

Kurome frowned, "Every Teigu is paired to an owner that has a similar personality. My Teigu, fits my personality nicely," Kurome drew her katana and raised it above her head. Streaks of black lightning erupted from a black orb that appeared above the tip of her sword.

Slowly four things crawled out of the ground. Kurome smiled crookedly, in an almost insane manner. "Yatsufusa, or March of the Dead, allows me to control up to eight of the dead that I have killed. There is one person, I desire to add to my collection most though, which is why I always have a spare space. I have seven filled now, one of which will not fit in this room."

Kurome glanced at the creatures that erupted from the ground, and Tatsumi recognized three of them. Natala, as it were, the cowgirl, and the weird general. The fourth was a mystery.

"Who's the fourth?"

"Gozuki."

Gozuki perked to attention when he heard his name. He was a middle-aged man with blond hair and green eyes. He bore a small beard and wore a white shirt with black pants. Topping the outfit was a red scarf.

"They guard me if I call them, at any time. As long as I have the energy. Dismissed." Kurome said calmly, sheathing her katana, "You know where to find me when we move out."

"Kurome?" Najenda called from her chair.

"As you probably know, Zank, before he left, he stole the warden's Teigu. We do not known what it does, you will be working with Tatsumi again." Kurome nodded in acceptance before exiting the room, katana in hand.

_Why me?! I would've taken Mine over Kurome. Now I know she has the capabilities of enslaving me... _

OoOoOoOoO

Kurome retreated to her room and unsheathed her katana once again. Kurome called Natala out. _One more space. What are you doing now, Sis?_

Aloud, "Natala, there's one more space. I thought because I killed Gozuki, she'd come with me. Now.. I have no other option."

OoOoOoOoO

Tatsumi cursed himself again for being so careless. He had, despite it being Sayo, allowed himself to be separated from his partner. I mean, yeah, Kurome was creepy, but she didn't want to cut his head off! Or so she assured him.

"How did you find me?"

"With my Teigu. It gives me five different abilities. One is to be able to see things from very far away."

"I assume you're Zank?"

"Don't say it so.. plainly! You must say it with affection. Repeat after me, 'You are...Zank the Executioner!' Your turn," Zank the Executioner said eagerly.

Tatsumi frowned, and slowly repeated what he was to repeat, but halfway through, Tatsumi rushed forward and swung his sword.

Zank bellowed, "Smart, because I was talking you thought you could get a good swing in!"

_How did he know? _"I can see your confusion. That is understandable," Zank replied.

Tatsumi lunged again trying out a couple of feints, and blows that went for vital spots. He tried to use his speed, but ultimately, Zank was getting more strikes in just from being on defensive, than Tatsumi was being offensive. Tatsumi hesitated mid-swing debating his next set of attacks, and Zank took that opportunity to switch to offense.

Almost immediately, Tatsumi threw his sword up in defense, but he taking too many hits to his arms and legs, sapping his strength. One particularly nasty strike revealed bones on his knee. Zank kicked towards Tatsumi forcing Tatsumi to slide back.

_I can't beat him, this is like fighting Kurome all over again, _Tatsumi grimaced at that particular memory. They had sparred for at least three hours, and Kurome had neither broken a sweat nor taken a hit. She had blocked his blows almost lazily, revealing much more arm strength than she led people to believe.

"Oh? it looks like this Kurome person, might be a worthy fight. She has a wanted poster around here, doesn't she?" Zank's voice brought Tatsumi from his thoughts.

Tatsumi didn't bother dignifying Zank with a response, and kept his thoughts simple: Put his life on the line with this one strike. Tatsumi rushed at Zank with speed unmatched and managed to strike Zank's cheek, just below his eye. Unfortunately, Zank got a strike in as well. Tatsumi's back erupted in blood from the attack, causing him to collapse.

Zank frowned, "I had hoped you would be a good opponent. I guess not." Zank started to approach Tatsumi's fallen form when suddenly two bodies erupted from the floor. The cowgirl, Doya, and Natala.

"I was able to find you Tatsumi, don't run off again," Kurome's voice sounded from the dark before she stepped into the moonlit field behind Zank.

"How? I did not see you approach."

"I enjoy watching and observing fights more than I like participating. It would seem you can not read the thoughts of the dead, interesting," Kurome said amusedly, this fight had already been one, "If you cannot read their thoughts, then you do not have the skill to beat Natala and Doya simultaneously in battle."

Zank grit his teeth in anger and rushed at Kurome, but before he could, Natala reacted at insane speed, and blocked the incoming attack directed for his mistress. Kurome grinned and made her way towards Tatsumi to check his injuries. Instructing orders to Doya to kill Zank, she turned her back, mostly, on the fight.

Kurome sighed when she saw his wounds, these were much better than she thought previously. Though the strike to the back was lucky it did not hit any internal organs like the kidneys, that would be bad.

"Don't worry about me," Tatsumi said choking up some blood.

Kurome stared at him unblinkingly, before nodding and she drew the katana that she had previously been carrying and joined the fight. Kurome instructed her puppets to tend to Tatsumi, as they both had minimal knowledge of First Aid.

"Finally a challenge," she remarked and drew her katana.

Zank sneered and took off his trench coat. He rushed towards Kurome, counting on his gift to save him. Kurome smiled and dodged every single attack that came her way, parrying a few. Zank frowned, _I should be able to read her mind, yet strangely, it's blank! She must be able to achieve a state of nothing._

"How do you not have thoughts?"

"My comrade's parting gift to me was the ability and advice on how to achieve this state of nothingness. She was taught by her master, and in turn, she taught me," Kurome's voice held a hint of pain to it.

Zank had a light bulb moment, he knew how to beat her. He activated his Illusionary Sight Ability on his Teigu.

Kurome inhaled sharply, "A-a.. I have a spot for you, how kind of you to come."

Zank gave a monologue of how his Teigu only worked on one person at a time, but the hypnosis of this ability was strong and could not simply be broken.

"Die, Kurome, facing your loved one!" He crowed in victory and raced with blinding speed towards Kurome. Kurome saw the illusion draw a sword, so she prepared hers as well. And when the illusion struck, she parred and cut up the illusion.

"How?!" Zank shouted enraged, no doubt waking many people up, not to mention drawing the attention of others towards their location.

"I loved her, but when I left, we agreed. I would kill her, she would kill me. I am merely living up to that oath," Kurome's chilling response made everyone cringe. She had said it with such confidence, "This fight, is over."

Kurome lunged and quickly broke Zank's weapons within a manner of minutes, and Zank, being without defense, could only widen his eyes in horror as Kurome cut his throat. Kurome's katana glowed an eerie black, but dimmed afterwards. When Zank fell, she reached forwards and grasped the strange mechanic eye that was rested on Zank's forhead and removed it.

Walking away, she flicked her sword removing all traces of wet blood, and walked towards the Hideout, gesturing for Natala and Doya to bring Tatsumi.

Tatsumi's eyes drooped, his final thoughts of the fight, and how strange it had been.

OoOoOoOoO

"I see you are the first to return," the man boomed.

"Of course," was the red-eyed figures reply.

"Do you ever say anything?"

"Only when needed."

"Hey Akame!" a voice sounded from somewhere, "You back yet?"

A teenager strolled into the room, "Of course you are, why did I bother asking."

The newcomer bowed to the slightly (who am I kidding?), majorly overweight man, "Mission complete m'lord. Nothing to report otherwise, everything is made right now."

The overweight man nodded pleased by the reports given to him before dismissing the pair to do as they pleased. _Despite the loss of Gozuki, these kids still remain loyal to the Empire.. though, the one with red-eyes concerns me. I can see why Gozuki's reports were thorough about keeping an eye on her._

* * *

**And we're done! We finally got to see Akame a bit more. This chapter reveals a portion of Kurome's insanity.**

**In terms of her abilities - In the anime and manga, I feel they underestimate her abilities, she was after all, good enough to reach #8, and managed to get onto the Elite 7 (to my knowledge) later on in life because she needed to replace some of Akame's comrades.**

**This concludes this particular installment of Reversed Destinies. Reviews are welcome.**

**Also, I have this week off for some holiday or other, so I'll have plenty of time to post new chapters and revise old ones. **

**As always, thanks for your support, till next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

Three weeks had passed since the fight with Zank. Three days since Sheele had died, and we learned we had a new enemy in the Capital. Seryu Ubiquitous and her Teigu, Hekatonkheires or Koro. The girl favored the armor of the Capital's Imperial Soldiers, and was one of Ogre's subordinates. Which, given that Tatsumi killed him, means Seryu thought it was her right to plot for revenge. One Night Raid member at a time..

Tatsumi growled angrily and punched a nearby tree. He wasn't strong enough. _I can't believe it! I thought she was nice when she led me out of the maze of streets to where I was supposed to meet up with Leone. I should've known. _

"Anger does not become you, Tatsumi," Kurome's voice sounded from behind.

_How does she sneak up on you so easily?! It's not right.. _"It's my fault."

"Come,"

Tatsumi turned to find Kurome walking towards the place where they had set up a headstone for Sheele, right by Sayo and Ieyasu.

"Tell me about yourself Tatsumi," Kurome said calmly.

"I'm from a small village in the mountains, it's almost always cold, and my people are always struggling to survive the elements. Sayo, Ieyasu, and I were the eldest and fittest people to travel to the Empire to try and earn money and try to get our village through the winters. Everyone else was too old or too young. We knew, from a young age, that we were the ones who had to take responsibility for the village, while we still could."

"Will they blame you for the death of your comrades?"

"They weren't comrades, they were friends!"

"I see no difference."

Tatsumi frowned, _just what had this girl been through? _he wondered before finishing his story, "So we came here. Night Raid is trying to do what it can to help the tiny villages, like mine, when the Empire is overthrown. I can't let down my village when I already let down Ieyasu and Sayo."

"Perspective, Tatsumi, is a very powerful thing," was Kurome's only response before she turned around and left the small graveyard. Tatsumi eyes followed her in confusion.

"Just what was that about?" Tatsumi asked aloud to himself after Kurome had left, he glanced towards the grave markers once more and noticed a plate of food at the foot of Sheele's marker, as offerings.

As Tatsumi wandered back to his room, he passed Kurome's room on his way. He noticed the door was open, and couldn't help himself. What he found, terrified him more than any threat Mine could every come up with.

The room was completely empty. A bed lay in the corner, but it was decked out with standard sheets. Her desk was empty. He looked around the room, there was nothing that could possible convince someone that a person lived in this room. He wasn't even sure, at this point, if Kurome lived here. As Tatsumi was leaving, his eyes caught sight of a single scroll lying open on the bed.

Tatsumi walked towards the perfectly made bed, and looked down at the scroll. Picking it up, he shot a sideways glance at the door. Untying the scroll he opened it. Written in neat small characters was a list of names. Some names were crossed out, some were not. He noticed the name Gozuki on the list, but he noticed that it was also crossed out.

He saw Doya's name on there, yet Natala's was no where to be found. He saw some names of recent target's. Gamal's name was there, as was Zank's. They were both crossed out. His eyes wandered the list of names for a few more minutes, before he saw the characters for "Older Sister".

Tatsumi heard the sound of approaching foot steps and panicked. He quickly rolled up the scroll and placed it on the bed, before high-tailing it out of the room. Not seconds later, Kurome entered the room, her katana at her side. She picked up the scroll Tatsumi left on her bed. And unraveled it. She went over to her desk, and called Natala out.

"The book please, Natala."

Natala hesitated for a moment, before pulling from within the folds of his jacket a small book. He handed it Kurome. Out of his other pocket, he pulled two pens, one red and one black.

Kurome nodded her appreciation and opened the book. Inside were more names, page after page of names. Kurome flipped to the first page, and traced the first name lightly with her fingertips.

OoOoOoOoO

"I am sure you have heard of the killings of highly thought of men, with no allegiance to the Rebellion, but peacefully left the Empire when they realized they could no longer serve the current Empire. Night Raid flyers are being handed out at the scene of each death. We are being framed," Natala's hard voice rang through the meeting room.

"Boss, I have more bad news," Lubbock said, raising his hand slightly, "Esdeath has been spotted by some of our spies, as well as the Three Beasts."

"That's not good,"

"I have more bad news," Leone said grimly, "It is said that Onest is heading deep within the nearby mountains often. He always returns with meat and a happy smile. The last time he returned, he was seen with Gal."

The room was silent, if the Empire was bringing _them _into the city, they were doomed. The Revolutionary Army had not the might nor the willpower to fight Esdeath, The Three Beasts, and _them _all at once. Mine's eyes flashed to Kurome who was studiously studying the floor, Kurome's face giving no emotion away.

"Regardless of the foes arriving in the Capital, we must protect those against the Empire's current paths, they could be potentially very helpful when the Empire is overthrown. Today, instead of killing people, we will be protecting them. Tatsumi, Bulat." Najenda called, "You will be boarding a large boat headed for a nice cruise, protecting the citizens there, as well as the important figures." Najenda tossed Bulat a packet containing all necessary information on the mission. "Dismissed."

"Kurome, Lubbock. Your target is on a hunting expedition. Make sure he is not ambushed in the slightest."

OoOoOoOoO

"I can't believe Gal got to go to the Empire!" a voice complained.

"Better than me, I can't believe we take orders from that pig of a man," another said, "I wonder if Gal will lose his temper and kill him?"

"Hey Akame! Still depressed over your meat?"

Red eyes met black rimmed glasses, "He will pay for his crimes."

* * *

**Sorry it took a little bit longer than I thought, I had a busy week. Anyway, I don't think I have anything really noteworthy to say. Oh yeah!**

**I apologize for the length of this chapter, originally I had this chapter and the next all together, but then I realized.. well it was pretty long, and I better split it up a bit. So instead of one chapter, you have three rather equal ones in length. I'll be posting those soon, so stay tuned for that. **

**We got to see a bit more of Kurome's dark twisted mentalities, I hope you enjoyed that, and we saw a glimpse of Akame, let me know what you think as always. **


	9. Chapter 9

Tatsumi walked aboard the magnificent red and gold ship. The ships quarters were elaborate and well-decorated. Men and women were dressed in expensive business suits and dresses, clasping gold rimmed champagne glasses. There was even a melodic flute-like melody playing throughout the indoor quarters. Tatsumi felt his eyes droop to the gentle lull of the music. He thought about just sitting down in a nearby chair and sleeping for the next several hours. As he headed towards the chair, he suddenly felt like there was something incredibly important for him to be doing. He shook his rapidly, and changed courses to head outside into the open air, thinking that fresh air would clear his sleep filled head.

"My my my," a voice called from behind him clapping their hands, "A survivor. That is very commendable for someone to be able to sleep through Nyau's clarinet."

Tatsumi whirled around quickly drawing the sword behind his back, raising it in defense. From within the bellows of the ship, three people came forth. The first, was a hulking man, with large muscles. He wore his hair in yellow spikes and white eyes, that had no visible pupil. The hulking man, drew a decorative axe from behind his back, the axe, like its user, was large and must have needed a lot of strength to be wielded efficiently.

The second, the man in the middle, was thin and lean. Like his hulking friend, he bore yellow hair, but instead had golden, almost lion like, eyes. He wore strange horns and a demon-like tail. His teeth seemed to be almost fang-like and he was the one holding what seemed to be a clarinet. This must Nyau, the man who lured all the boats inhabitants to sleep.

The eldest by far, was a weathered man with long silver hair tied back in a simple ponytail. The mustache he had was also silver, a clear sign of age. However, his bright blue eyes, held no sign of age. Which means, despite his appearance this man was a foe to be reckoned with. He had a strange ring on his finger. The gem was a deep blue, and it bore a silver dragon on top almost protecting the blue gemstone.

The three wore the same uniform, black with silver linings. The uniforms had the same cross like symbol in various locations on the uniform. The symbol of Esdeath, as told to Tatsumi by Najenda. These were the Three Beasts.

OoOoOoOoO

The Three Beasts saw the recognition in Tatsumi's eyes when he finally figured out who they were, "So you know who we are then?"

"Yes, you work for Esdeath!"

"Ah yes, our savior," The eldest replied wistfully, his voice full of reverence towards his leader, "And who, my boy, are you?"

"Names are not important," Tatsumi replied.

"My name is Liver," The silver haired man said, ignoring Tatsumi as if he had never spoken, "The large man next to Nyau is Daidara. Nyau is the one holding the clarinet. Now is it not fair that you introduce yourself?"

Tatsumi frowned before replying, "My name is Tatsumi."

"Excellent! Now, I'm sorry Tatsumi, but we're going to have to kill you now. Daidara, use this as experience," Liver instructed.

Daidara nodded eagerly and rushed towards Tatsumi at blinding speeds that Tatsumi did not see coming from such a large man. Tatsumi raised his sword and was surprised when a new figure dressed in white armor dropped in front of him. Daidara was impaled on the red spear like weapon.

"Bro!" Tatsumi cried, grateful for the newcomer's arrival.

Daidara gasped as the spear pierced his chest. The newcomer swung Daidara off of his spear and onto the outside of the ship's inner quarters. Daidara fell to the ground dead.

"Such marvelous strength!" Liver cried pleased, "Is that you Bulat? I know you work for Night Raid now, and that armor, Incursio, is part of Night Raid's ensemble."

"Liver..." Bulat whispered in shock, beneath the impenetrable armor of Incursio, Bulat's eyes misted with memories.

"Bro?" Tatsumi questioned quietly, gently nudging Bulat when Bulat did not move after a minute.

Nyau had lost interested in what was occurring between Bulat and Liver, and had shifted his attention to the fallen Daidara. He poked and prodded the dead body with the end of his clarinet, the part that did not go in his mouth. _Bit of a waste really.. I wonder, when we get back, if I can experiment on him. I've heard there's a Teigu that the Empire used to own that allowed the user to employ the dead, I wonder if I could do that with music. _

Bulat raised a armor covered hand, almost longingly, "I thought you were dead or imprisoned."

"I was," Liver agreed, "but then, Esdeath saved me. She cleared all charges against my name, and I was able to walk free. I owe my life to her. I will forever serve her. And you, Bulat, it's not too late."

"Too late for what?" Tatsumi asked.

"To join Esdeath."

"I will never serve the Empire again!" Bulat spat ashamed at what his once revered master had become.

"Don't think of it, my boy, as serving the Empire, but her glorious ice queen, Esdeath," Liver paused, "She is much more worthy of respect than the Empire."

"Liver," Bulat started gravely, "I had hoped you were dead, I see I was wrong. A shame, for you."

"So be it," Liver said, closing his eyes, "But you see, we're on a lake, a very large lake. You will find, I never lose in water."

Nyau continued to examine his fallen comrade's body, uninterested in the fight, and Tatsumi's approach. It itched to play a quick tune on his Teigu, but he couldn't. He had a plan. Nyau sighed to himself, for now, he would act his part. Nyau slim form rose and shot a quick glance at Bulat and Liver's fight. He admired Bulat's physical prowess. How he effortlessly dodged the strikes from Liver, but the fight was, at the end of the day, one-sided. Bulat fought for his beliefs, Liver fought because he felt he owed hit to his mistress.

"Hello Tatsumi," Nyau whispered, not turning around to face his opponent.

"Bulat his doing his part, I intend to do mine!" Tatsumi cried.

Nyau smiled to himself before rising, "Is that so? What part, my dear Tatsumi, is that?"

Tatsumi frowned at being called 'dear'. He drew his sword, "Completing the mission," rising the sword in front of him in a ready stance.

"The mission? Protecting these old men?" Nyau scoffed disbelievingly.

"If that is what the mission is," Tatsumi said, "I have to save my village from starvation."

"You have conviction, I'll give you that," Nyau nodded approvingly, "Pity you're not the girl with black eyes. I would have traded some useful information in exchange for information from her."

"Kurome?" Tatsumi asked confused, dropping his guard slightly, "What business do you have with her?"

"I know where what she loves most is."

* * *

**Sorry for such a long wait, school and lack of motivation to run kinda dictated my feelings on writing. Anyway, I hope you like this little thing with Nyau. I always thought the creators (notice how I just did my disclaimer right there?) didn't give much thought into the Three Beasts, but I felt they were an important-ish to the plot of the story. **

**Let me explain my magical plan, Nyau will have a lot to do with Akame and Kurome's past, well kinda. Just not in the way you think. **

**As always rate and review!**


	10. Chapter 10

Kurome tilted her head, convinced someone was talking about her. Her blond haired companion fixed his angelic-like blue eyes on her in confusion. She shook her head dismissively before turning her attention to her bag of snacks. Natala exchanged glances with Lubbock, who shrugged unconcerned by Kurome's normal behavior.

Another fifteen minutes passed before silence was broken, "I'm bored," Kurome complained.

"So?" Lubbock replied, uncaring. He something to do, play with his deadly string.

"Play a game with me," was the quick demand.

"No."

"Play a game with me," Kurome repeated indicating for Natala to press the sharp edge of his collapsable spear against Lubbock's neck.

"Fine," Lubbock said before weaving his string in a pattern that looked suspiciously like Cat's Cradle.

"I don't like that game," Kurome reached into her bag of snacks, only to come up with the remaining crumbs, "Lubbbbooooccckkkk..."

"What?!"

"I'm hungry."

"Eat your snacks and shut up."

"I'm out of snacks."

Lubbock placed his head in his hands, moaning about how it was always him. From what little information Najenda had given him about her sister, Akame rarely spoke. At the time, Lubbock had wanted to exchange the pair, better to have a talker than a quiet one. Najenda laughed, before saying that she would prefer to have the quiet one. He wanted to hear her laugh again.

He sighed slightly before putting his hand inside his green jacket, and retrieving what looked to be a granola bar. He extended the bar, "Now will you please shut up?"

Kurome happily accepted the bar, but gave no promise of being willing to shut up as she sighed and said, "I want to go on the boat." With that she jumped down from her post within the branches of the tree, and headed in the general direction of the lake that Tatsumi and Bulat were at.

"What? Kurome, come back!" Lubbock cried scrambling out of the tree himself, Natala a few paces ahead of him.

"Snooze you lose!" Kurome cried over her shoulder before she started to run. Beside Lubbock, Natala vanished.

OoOoOoOoO

The red-eyed assassin looked out on the mountain range from the mouth of a cave. Inhaling the cool air, she caught wind of something strange. Blood. She glanced inwards towards the cave before carefully making her way down the mountain. Nose searching for the peculiar smell of crimson liquid.

About halfway from her starting destination, she found herself upon a dead danger beast by a small body of water underneath a large Japanese Maple. The creature was deer-like, with three long horns protruding from the top of its head. By the time the three horns ended they had entwined in each other, creating a strange pattern. The creature's eyes were open and wide with fear. The body of the animal was ripped to pieces. It's four legs were all strewn a few feet from the body. The head of the beast barely attached to the neck. Akame moved to examine the creature's legs. It's feet, were more like the claws of a lion, and between the sharp extended claws were bits of yellow and green scales.

Akame immediately backed up and drew her poisoned katana, Murasame. Her senses were pricked for an attacker. She slowly backed away from the pond towards the direction she came from. Almost out of the shadow of a tree, she picked up blood lust from above. Reacting quickly, she backflipped out of the tree's shadow, sword poised at the ready, should her attacker deem to show himself. When nothing appeared, she trudged back up the mountain to her cave.

On her way up she thought of the first time she had encountered such a situation.

_"Sis, why can't I go to the pond?" A young voice complained, the speaker not much older than eleven or twelve years of age. _

_"Kurome, don't be ridiculous, you can't go to the den of a Kappa."_

_"What's a Kappa?" _

_"A dangerous, powerful monster." _

_"What is it though?" Kurome asked staring at her older sister with curious black eyes. _

_"A Kappa," the fifteen year old began, "is a creature the size of a ten year old boy with yellow and green scales and the back of a turtle. It has the mischievous face of a monkey and is fond of drowning its prey." _

_"If we beat it, then can I go swimming?" _

_Akame hesitated, before replying, "No. We have not the means to beat it." _

_Kurome frowned and heatedly glared at her sister, "You mean I'm not strong enough," Kurome spat angrily before turning on her heel grabbing her infamous katana and heading towards the pond. _

_"Kurome!" Akame called before she narrowed her eyes, "Fine! If you want to die, so be it! When will you grow up?"_

_Kurome gave no sign of hearing her sister's anger. Akame flopped to the group, in a manner unbefitting of a graceful assassin. Akame figured that if she waited long enough, Kurome would realized she wasn't coming and return. Five minutes passed, usually the amount of time that Kurome spent focused on something. Akame sighed quietly before trudging after her sister's disappearing frame._

_The younger sister muttered curses and slangs previously unknown to the world towards her older sister. _

_"Oh just because she's older means she can dictate my fate? 'Kurome don't do this,' 'Kurome don't do that', well you know what Akame? Screw you. So what if you ranked into the Elite Seven and all that, and I don't care if you saved my life once or twice before. So what?! You don't get to dictate my every action just because you feel like it. That's not fair!"_

_Kurome was cut off when a hand placed itself on her left shoulder, immediately expecting the worst, she drew her necromancing sword looking to decapitate a head or two. The person who assaulted Kurome knew what was coming and was prepared to block. Metal clanged together, both strikes powerful._

_Initially Kurome was shocked, not expecting to be blocked. Black met red. _

_Akame... _

OoOoOoOoOoO

Akame reached the inner parts of the cave she shared with five and a half others and her reliving the past was broken by a booming voice.

"Akame! Excellent! You're here just in time. It has recently come to knowledge, that the Three Beasts, stooges of Esdeath's, were defeated by the notorious group, Night Raid. Now, up until recently, you have all been... inactive. Your father's death must have been a blow to you and your team," a grey bearded man boomed.

"Indeed," was Akame's quiet reply.

The man, not deterred by the quiet response from the red-eyed leader, "It is my understanding, my dear, that you were second in command of the Elite Seven, should Gozuki fall."

No reply was heard.

As if ignoring the deafening silence the grey bearded man continued, "Which is why, you will be sent to the Capital."

The remaining Elite Seven's heads shot up in surprise. It had been awhile since they were called to fight. Most had assumed that since the death of Gozuki, that they're order would be disbanded and the members of the Seven killed. Akame showed, unlike the others, showed no surprise.

"Akame, you will come with me to the Capital, and serve under General Esdeath. The rest of you will remain here, in case your leader should fall. Dismissed. Akame, we leave at sunset, pack now."

The remaining five members of the Elite Seven bowed their heads and exited the room. An unsaid conversation took place amongst the group, Akame's room.

The five piled into Akame's sparsely decorated room.

"Hey A," Green whispered into the spare room.

Poney glanced at Green before gently walking up to Akame, "What about Kurome?"

* * *

**I apologize profusely for the long wait in the chapter. I hope this kinda makes up for it. I have two or three plots in mind for this story**

** \- the first Akame joins Night Raid at some point **

**\- the second Kurome and Akame fight, Kurome wins**

**\- the third Akame falls in battle at some point in time**

**What would you like to see?**

**Disclaimer - I own, nor claim to own, any part of Akame ga Kill. **


	11. Chapter 11

Location - Night Raid HQ

The remaining members of Night Raid, sat along an increasingly empty table. Tatsumi stared at where Sheele used to sit next to Mein, the empty seat to his left, and the puppet standing in the corner. He never understood why no one was creeped out by the ever increasing amount of dead things sitting at the table. When Sheele and Bulat had been alive, Kurome rarely had her Teigu's ability activated, but now it seemed common.

Tatsumi thought back to when he accidentally saw Kurome's naked back once when he barged into her room looking for someone to spar with him and to help him train.

_It's been a few days since the death of Bulat and my inheritance of Incursio. I can't use the armor for longer than a few minutes without getting tired. I wonder if anyone will spar with me. Mein would't be helpful until he could use the invisibility, Lubbock trapped things, and Leone was out in town gathering up the latest gossip and information in the city. And Boss, well Tatsumi didn't know if Najenda could fight. That left Kurome. Who was no where to be found. _

_"Does anyone know where Kurome is?" Tatsumi asked his table mates. _

_"If today is what I think it is, then I bet she's in her room," Lubbock commented, looking thoughtful. _

_"And what is today?" _

_"Kappa Day," Mein answered, her eyebrows confused._

_"But she's in her room right?"_

_"Most likely." _

_Tatsumi politely excused himself from mid-meal and headed towards the living quarters of the HQ. _

_After Tatsumi was out of earshot, Lubbock glanced at Mein, "Should we have told him not to disturb her on this day?"_

_Mein laughed, "Nah, let the runt figure it out for himself. He's got the armor." _

_He paused at Kurome's door and raised his fist to knock on the door. __"Kurome?" He asked hopefully at the closed door. No answer._

_Tatsumi entered the room and was hit with the overwhelming smell of Leone's alcohol. Which didn't make sense, he had never seen Kurome drink anything other than water. Opening the door a bit further, he allowed a little light from the hallway to spill into the dark room. Standing in the center of room was Kurome, shrugging on the top of her black and red sailor's uniform. Before the shirt covered her skin, he saw a strange scar just under her left shoulder blade on her back. Tatsumi head ran through all the possible scenarios of what could have happened, but could come up with nothing. It couldn't have been against another human as Kurome would be dead. _

_All of a sudden, Natala came into light, followed closely by Gozuki and Doya. All three had weapons drawn and pointed at Tatsumi. Natala approached a bit closer than the other two, and grabbed Tatsumi by the front of his jacket and effortlessly threw Tatsumi rather painfully into the hallway and closing the door afterwards._

Tatsumi continued to stare at Kurome's spot, where she sat eating a bowl of rice and tuna with a side of cookies, as per the usual. Every time he saw Kurome since he saw the scar, he was plagued with the memory. He remembered the amusement on Gozuki's face, the pain on Natala's, and the rawness of Doya's.

"Hey Kurome," Tatsumi started, "How'd you get that scar on your back?"

All previous conversations froze. Natala, who was standing in the corner was immediately pressing the sharp end of his collapsable spear into Tatsumi's neck, pressing just enough to draw blood. Kurome, for her part made no reaction. She cleaned her plate and brought the dishes to the kitchen and placed them in the sink. Kurome started to head out of the dining room, but stopped to stand in front of Tatsumi.

"Thank you Tatsumi," Kurome said cheerfully, "You decided to do all my chores for the next week!"

Tatsumi opened his mouth to protest but faltered when he saw the cold fury in Kurome's black eyes, "I'm-"

Kurome stared at him, black eyes burrowed into green before she walked away. She gestured to Natala and Natala responded by flanking Kurome immediately, removing the spear from Tatsumi's neck.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"She did leave the Empire," Akame reminded her friends gently.

A man with glasses scoffed, "Like we haven't all thought about ditching this place. And now, you have that chance."

"Watch your tongue, Green," a girl said with short auburn hair, "It's not like we can actually leave when we're up here. **He's **always here. Claiming to be able to replace our father. As if anyone could replace the man who raised us."

"Our father is dead, Tsukushi." Green shot back, "Do you remember who killed him?"

Poney jumped into the conversation, "Regardless, it shows Kurome was at least skilled enough to take him down. Murasame and all. The same cannot be said for this Esdeath. If she is as strong as she has been claimed to be, why has she not joined us here? Or us with her? I do not envy you, Akame."

"These are my orders," Akame quietly spoke, having finished packing the snacks she would need on her journey.

"Orders, are what got Father killed," a man with golden eyes said, "I, for one, would not be opposed to joining the Revolution Army. From the reports and whisperings, they have caused much havoc in the city. They defeated some man who read minds without losing anyone. The Three Beasts, in water were defeated. They have had two casualties at this point, while the Empire has had, how many? At least three of their strongest. We have been blinded into serving the Empire up until this point. We could have uprooted Night Raid when they first came about, but we were not ordered to. Instead we were exiled to the mountains."

The others nodded in agreement, they had been betrayed. Their skills were going to get rusty up here in the mountains with no real challenge to take out and no orders of importance received. While the man with golden eyes, Chief, was ranked number one in terms of kills and position, they usually deferred to Akame in these situations, since she would calculate where Chief would not. This was evident when the team looked towards Akame for final say.

"I will look into this Esdeath. If I find her a worthy comrade for us, then I will send no word. If word is sent, then assume I have joined Night Raid and its allies, regardless of what the message might contain."

"But it was Kurome who took Father from us," Green protested.

"Did he take Father from us," Gal started, "or did he save us from Father?" Tsukushi finished.

The question hung in the air and silence took over the group.

"We'll see what Esdeath is like, and if she is worthy of our loyalty. Let us see if the Empire is worthy of our loyalty."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Location - Various

A sailor walked in the market carrying a large bag of fish.

An angel swooped in from the skies from the north.

A masked man left his wife and child at their house with promises of being home for dinner and a full tale of what his new job was.

A doctor and a half metal woman walked into the Palace from just outside the gates.

A woman with blue hair walked from a nearby cemetery.

An assassin walked down the slopes of the mountains.

* * *

**I think this is the first time I've made another new chapter so quickly after the other. Well you have also spoken, Akame will be joining Night Raid at some magical point, and it may not be in the way you expect. And what's up with the Elite Seven? or is it 5 now? **

**In my opinion the way I have things set up with the Elite Seven (Five/Six?) makes a bit of sense. I mean, if they are as skilled as the cannon makes them seem to be, then why is Akame the only one mentioned? As of yet, it has yet to say if they've died. So let's assume they're alive and quite upset that they've been put off-duty. **

**Disclaimer - I do not own any part of Akame ga Kill**

**Also, thoughts? **


	12. Chapter 12

On her way to the meeting hall, Akame mulled over what she and the others knew and had heard about Esdeath. Akame had always be calculating where Kurome had been impulsive, which is why they made a good team. Kurome would impulsively spring all traps and Akame would figure out a guaranteed plan to not only rescue her baby sister but also successfully complete the mission.

What she knew - Esdeath was the general of the highest honor, second only to Budo. Someone of incredible skill who managed to defeat the Northern Tribes in their own land with ease, easily breaking their spirits. Most importantly, Esdeath possessed a Teigu that could apparently control ice. A dangerous foe indeed.

When she reached the outer gates of the palace, Akame paused. Technically she should be able to walk through with ease, she was after all a member of the esteemed Elite Seven. However, from what Gal had told her the Elite Seven's name had fallen since the death of Gozuki. She looked around trying to find a nearby guard house or guard or someone to let her in.

"Excuse me?" the timid voice of a man called.

Akame turned to face the man, raising an eyebrow for him to continue, "I-I w-was wonder if you needed to get into the palace. I need to get in as well," the man said before holding up an invitation much like the one she received. Akame nodded her agreement that she needed to get into the palace, "Do you want to travel together?" the man finished.

Akame shrugged and weighed her options before she nodded and pointed at a guard house she spotted a little ways away and starting walking in that general direction, the man fell into step with her. Both were silent through their short walk, neither of them minded. Akame took this silence as an opportunity to look at someone she might be working with, even if she couldn't see the man's face. The white mask that identified him as a member of an incineration squad. He wore strange white long gloves, probably standard issue from the Imperial Incineration Squad Headquarters. He wore no shirt, so his chest was bare which had a scar etched on it. He had pants on that matched his gloves and mask.

"Halt right there!" a young girl's voice shouted from behind them.

The young woman was running behind them with a motionless toy dog trailing on the ground behind her on a leash. The young woman had auburn air and amber eyes. She wore the uniform of an Imperial Guard member, and judging by it's heavy duty appearance, she was high ranking in the Guard. Where her arms should have been were metal replacements.

"What business do you have with the Emperor?" the woman demanded.

The man standing next to Akame stuttered that he was invited her, clearly intimidated by the woman's spitfire attitude. "Now now Seryu," a voice called, "Why don't you calm down and ask these poor people nicely? You are an Imperial Guardsmen. Surely you know a bit of decorum?"

As the newcomer came into view, Akame recognized him instantly from Kurome's descriptions of him in the past. It would seem that Kurome's description was still accurate even after such a long time. Kurome had said he was tall and had weird spiky black hair with a strange white patch. He had blue eyes and wore glasses. He wore a yellow suit with a blue shirt and a tie. He topped off the look with a white trench coat. Akame knew who this was. Dr. Stylish.

"Fine Doctor," the newly identified Seryu said playfully annoyed with Dr. Stylish, "Hi, my name is Seryu Ubiquitous and I'm a captain in the Imperial Guard, and this is my Teigu, Koro! Say "hi" Koro," the small previously thought to be a toy, waved one of its' rather small hands when its heard its' name called, "This is Doctor Stylish, an absolute genius and the nicest man you will ever meet! What's your name and why are you here?"

While the beginning of what she said seemed friendly enough, Akame was put off by the tone of demand in the last sentence.

"Hi, my name is Bols and I'm from the Incineration Squad," the man nervously said and withdrew from within the pockets of his white pants, and pulling out the invitation that Akame saw earlier, "I'm here because I was invited to be part of a new group that General Esdeath is said to have created."

"Really?" Seryu said excitement evident in her voice, "So were we! Guess we'll be working together from now on in an attempt to bring justice to this empire!"

"And you?" Stylish questioned Akame.

"I was summoned here by the Prime Minister," Akame said calmly, which was partly true, she did have a written slip of an audience with him later this week; which she presented to the group.

"So we aren't working together?" Seryu said slightly disappointed, "Oh well, I'll still get you inside." Seryu walked over to talk to the guard and the group was let into the belly of the beast.

Akame glanced at her future... comrades with mild interest. This would prove to be interesting. Akame sighed aloud earning her strange looks from those accompanying her.

_This is going to be a long, long day._

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

_Dear #8, _

_I don't know when you'll be getting this, or if I'll even be alive when you do. But if it's been sent to you, then it means that Gal and Green weren't idiots and they sent this to you. I wrote this in advance a long time ago, when you first left us. When the memories were fresh, when my anger was fresh. _

_I'm in the Empire again. I'm in the Capital. When you killed Gozuki, the rest of us, as you know, were put into exile. Our skills have probably gotten rusty, since I don't know when this will be sent to you. I hope you're alive at this point. _

Kurome stopped reading and laughed quietly, this was definitely written by Akame. She was only un-serioius with her beloved younger sister. Kurome smiled and continued to read.

_You probably are still alive by this point, you're too stubborn to die. We're both too stubborn to die. _

_ Remember that promise I asked you to make me? I have always held my end, and I will continue to hold it. If you hold yours. On another note, if you ever see what remains of the Elite Seven, convince your group to hear them out. Do what your leader wants afterwards, but hear them out. Please. _

_With Love, _

_Always,_

_#7_

Kurome smiled sadly, _I will always hold up my end. _Kurome noticed another letter as well, and began to read it's contents.

_#8,_

_Hey, it's #2 and well everyone else, except Green, he's not too happy. He hasn't been happy for a while, we haven't been happy for a while. #7 probably told you to watch out for us, and to hear us out. Hell we might even come talk to you with her. _

_Don't reply and make sure to destroy this letter. We won't ask you to destroy #7's but, it's advised just in case._

Natala glanced at the letters in Kurome's hand and gently pried them from her. He scanned the pieces of paper, and burned the second letter. The first he put into the book he carried around in his pocket.

"Natala, what would you do?"

The man smiled sadly before vanishing.

* * *

**Hello everyone! Another chapter. So soon. New record for me! So I've been thinking about pairings, suggestions? Comments and reviews are always welcome. I'm actually considering looking into a beta at some point. **

Disclaimer - I do not own, nor do I claim to, Akame ga Kill.


	13. Chapter 13

"The Emperor's chambers are down the hall, someone should give you directions from there," Seryu said pointing down a long hallway. Of course, Akame already knew this having been here a time or two, but that would raise suspicion.

"Thank you," Akame replied easily before politely excusing herself from the present company.

Akame walked down familiar halls, the last time she was here.. No. She wasn't here to think about the past. She was here to determine her loyalty.

"I'm never going to find this place! There are so many halls!" A frustrated voice exclaimed.

Akame paused her walking, and glanced in the direction of the frustrated man. He was handsome enough, blue hair and dark blue hair. He wore a blue jacket with a red scarf with an anchor on it. Underneath the jacket was a white shirt with a single blue strip running down the center. He wore simple grey jeans with a belt. If the anchor wasn't enough of a hint, then the odor around the man would've identified him as a sailor. Plus, he did have a bag of fish swung over his shoulder.

"Can I help you?" Akame asked politely.

"I've been wandering these halls for about thirty minutes, I can't find this room I'm supposed to meet some people in." the man said in frustration, "Oh wait, forgive my manners. My name is Wave and I'm from the Imperial Navy."

"You can call me 7, now do you have a room number? I'm quite familiar with these halls, perhaps I can point you in the right direction." Akame may have been a cruel professional assassin, but she wasn't unkind, particularly if her suspicions about this man were correct.

"I'm looking for," Wave paused, pulling out a piece of paper, "Meeting Room A?"

"Ah well, that's on the other end of the room. I recently ran into some other people looking for a similar room. I'll take you where I took them," Akame said, an easy excuse to get into that room after omitting the truth earlier.

"I couldn't possible intrude!" Wave protested feebly, secretly relieved that he could possible have someone guide him.

"Don't worry about it, my meeting with the Emperor isn't till later today anyway, I don't really want to wait around for His Majesty anyway," Akame replied dismissing Wave's attempts to be courteous.

"Well, if you insist."

"I do, follow me. Perhaps we'll run into more people you'll be meeting later."

"So 7," Wave tried, "What brings you to the Capital?"

"I said earlier I had a meeting with the Emperor," Akame frowned and considered the teenager next to her. He was probably the same age as her, give or take a few years, and certainly quite tall. Even a dash handsome, but he wasn't her type. Wave was someone she could work with, even rely on. He seemed.. sane.

"You did, but I mean, why?" Wave clarified, also taking in Akame's appearance, she wasn't telling him the entire truth, but he wasn't telling her the entire truth either. Fairs fair.

"My business if my own," Akame replied curtly, wincing internally at being so harsh with the boy. He really was fresh meat in the city.

"I'm sorry," Wave apologized before falling silent.

The pair continued to walk through the extravagant halls before stopping in front of a white door with the letter "A" on it in gold.

"Thank you," Wave said, bowing to Akame as a gesture of respect and gratitude.

"Your welcome. I might as well come in, and ask whoever's in charge of this meeting if there's anyone else that might be coming. Can't have them getting lost here."

They entered the room and realized it was quite the grand room. A piano was in the corner by the windows overlooking the ground, and a extravagant table was set out in center of the room. Four of the seats were occupied out of the seven there. Bols, Seryu, and Stylish were present and chatting aimlessly with a new face. Not Esdeath.

A blond man, maybe in his early twenties with golden eyes, not unlike Chief's. He wore a white robe over a black shirt and pants. A large belt was strapped over his waist, and a strange collar like necklace around his neck. Some of his blond hair was pinned back with a feather.

"Hello, new faces," the unidentified man commented, "My name is Run, it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance. Might I possibly inquire as to what your names are?"

"Hi, my name's Wave, and this here is 7," Wave announced happily, "I got lost when I was trying to find my way here, and 7 showed me the way. She said she might as well wait for whoever is running this meeting so she can ask who might be coming. If I got lost, I'm sure others will get lost as well!"

Run laughed politely before Seryu asked about the meeting with the Emperor, "That is not until later this afternoon, I am bored as it is. I might as well try to be useful."

"How thoughtful of you," Stylish praised, "Surely you can join us for some tea and cookies?" He asked gesturing to the table that was layered with snacks and beverages.

"Just one," Akame replied smiling, it wouldn't hurt to deny this group's hospitality.

After a few minute of easy conversation, Akame decided that the majority of the people she might be working with, were normal human beings. She learned that Bols had a daughter and a wife that he loved dearly. Wave confessed he held the highest respect for his mother back home. Run, she learned, was once a teacher, and had the greatest interest in learning about the world. Seryu, she learned was in the Imperial Army because her father died serving and asked her to continue to carry the mantel of Justice. Stylish was very private, but admitted he had developed a fascination in living things, learning about them and how they worked.

Akame, feeling like she had to contribute something personal, told her future companions about her love of hunting and cooking,

"And eating," Wave remarked causing the table to laugh. Akame had indeed cleaned a plate or two of cookies as well as a sandwich or two (or five).

The door opened and they looked towards the door to see someone entering the room. They had long blue hair and a white uniform on. Covering their face was a white mask.

"How did you get in here?" the newcomer demanded.

"Now hold up a minute," Wave stood up, "We were invited he-" The newcomer quickly approached the sailor and kicked him into a nearby wall.

That was the signal for Seryu to try to attack. Akame noticed Bols and Stylish not reacting to the newcomer's actions. Run looked interested, but he wasn't going to engage in a fight with this stranger.

Seryu attacked from behind but she was giving off too much of a presence, and Akame frowned when she saw the stranger slam Seryu into the ground. The stranger blocked Koro with a piece of ice that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

_So this is Esdeath _Akame mused to herself before noticing Esdeath approach Run. She executed a quick number of blows, all easily blocked or dodged by Run. _Impressive reflexes _

"Just because you may be playing around, doesn't mean I'll go easy on you," Akame warned before lunging towards Esdeath, her deadly katana drawn and with a few practiced moves she sliced off the mask.

It was Esdeath behind the mask.

"So that's the impressive blade, Murasame?" Esdeath asked, "Impressive, I expect nothing less from a member of the Elite Seven, and the second in command the Prime Minister promised me."

Akame internally groaned she didn't want her position within the Elite Seven be announced. Wave gasped from his position in the wall and his head swung towards her, the others were just as likely confused and surprised.

Akame nodded calmly, "My name is Akame, position seven and leader of the Elite Seven. I wasn't lying about my meeting with the Prime Minister."

"But you are a member of the Elite Seven?" Seryu said, awed. She had heard, of course, of the legendary group of assassins trained from birth to execute any order for the Empire, no matter how gruesome. The orders were always completed on time, there was no room for failure. It was everyone's dream to be part of the Elite Seven, to be trained by them, it would be an honor to work with its' leader.

Akame gave another rare smile, "I am."

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Has anyone noticed that Kurome has been more... down, than normal, lately?" Tatsumi commented one morning at the Night Raid breakfast table, thankfully Kurome nor Natala were there at the moment.

The other participants at breakfast nodded, "Tatsumi, Kurome's had an interesting past. It's.. complicated to explain, but one day she will explain all of it to you."

"When? Can you tell me a little bit?" Tatsumi badgered.

"When she is ready. I will tell you this, she was once part of the Elite Seven."

* * *

**Another chapter! New record. Anyway, pairings to be considered - **

**Tatsumi x Mein (not sure about that one, since these two aren't too important)**

**Honestly I'm considering not even doing pairings, I'm not too good at writing romance (never tried though). Also, I have a bit of question and answering to do.. **

**To Luna - **

1\. Yes I did change the name. Reversed Destinies just didn't seem to fit it, still working on trying to find a name that fits.

2\. No, the blue haired woman was Esdeath (though I suppose it's more of a light blue.. but oh well)

3\. No, Cornelia (or Cora) is not alive. She was killed by the Revolutionary Army at some point earlier on.

**Special mentions - **

I'd just like to take the time to thank Western White Tiger for he/she's reviews on each chapter I do. They're thorough and incredibly helpful to the writing process. Plus he/she are encouraging me that this is an interesting story to continue to write (not that the other reviews are not).

Also, thanks to everyone in general. 34 Reviews, 20 Favorites and 25 follows! You guys are amazing, I honestly never thought I'd get this far, mostly due to motivation and lack of interest by the general public. Thank you, all of you, for inspiring me to write this story and sticking with me on these random updates.

As always please review this story and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer - I own, nor claim to own any part of Akame ga Kill.


	14. Chapter 14

"So, Sis, this is the... underground book shop hide out? That's completely inconspicuous should someone stumble down here by accident," Tatsumi deadpanned.

"Yup! Welcome!" Leone replied happily, way too excited considering they were, despite in a hidden room, in the Capital, on a busy street.

"This here, well this shop, is my pride and joy," Lubbock supplied the reason as to why Night Raid would have such a location.

"I never pegged you for a reader," Tatsumi said grinning at Lubbock.

"I'm..-" Lubbock started before he was interrupted by Tatsumi, "So what's the big deal about Esdeath?"

Lubbock and Leone exchanged nervous glances, "So you didn't hear?"

"She single-handedly defeated the Northern Tribe and their army. In their own land," Leone explained, "Not to mention she controls what is considered the most powerful Teigu in existence that we know of, the Ice Teigu."

"Why don't you find out for yourself how dangerous Esdeath is?" Lubbock started, a dangerous glint in his eyes, "Participate in this tournament." Lubbock fished out a poster from within the pockets of his green jacket.

The poster depicted the woman Tatsumi assumed was Esdeath flanked by a girl with red eyes with a sheathed katana resting upon her shoulder, and a man with wings and golden eyes. Below the trio were characters promising a large sum of money to the victor of this challenge, as well as the opportunity to try to conquer a Teigu.

"You're saying we should watch this?"

"No, you're going to enter," Leone raised a hand to hush Tatsumi's outburst, "Think about it, it's money that could be sent back to your village. I mean, sure, it's money from the enemy, but money's money."

_Huh she has a point _Tatsumi thought to himself, "Alright! I'll do it, let's go get signed up!"

"What's your undercover alias going to be?" Lubbock asked thoughtfully, "You're probably going to need one."

"Good point," Tatsumi replied, "Maybe assistant blacksmith?"

"Can you strike iron?"

"Yeah! Sayo said at least one of us should learn. Ieyasu didn't want to learn, but he came when Sayo threatened to castrate him if he didn't come." Tatsumi's eyes were misted over with fond memories of his two deceased child-hood friends.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Are you sure this tournament is a good idea?" Wave asked.

"Of course, it might lure Night Raid out if they can get a shot at me," Esdeath reasoned, "Besides, recently, I have tasked the Prime Minister and the Emperor into finding someone I might love day."

"Love?" Akame whispered, "Love is a fool's endeavor."

"Come now!" Bols cried, "You've met my wife, albeit briefly, surely it is worth waiting for a guy to be like her. Caring, devoted, loving," Bols sighed dreamily thinking of his little family.

"No, no it is not. Love only ends in hatred. This is your life, Esdeath, but remember, it's the things we love move that may orchestrate our downfall. I will be in the colosseum at noon, as ordered." With that last word, Akame spun on her heel and headed to her quarters within the Palace.

"What's happened in her past?" Seryu asked, "Personally I think love sounds wonderful. I hope to find a man for me, someone hooked into justice just like me!"

"Love can be what you want it to be," Stylish said, wisely, "For Akame, she feels that love is no different from agony or pain. It is quite interesting to see what effect the psychological damage of her service to the art of killing has done to her. I wonder if the others are like her."

"Others?" Run asked lightly, also mystified by Akame's behavior, but perhaps understanding of such feelings towards love.

"The remaining Elite Seven," Esdeath informed Run, "I will, nevertheless take her advice to heart. Despite the less than savory reputation the Elite Seven have taken on, she is still someone to be respected and listened to."

"I worked with the Elite Seven, or rather, those who completed the initiation but did not complete it in time. I never met the people who completed it in time, but I met their leader, their trainer. I can see why she would view love this way, she shares the same belief that he does."

"What belief is that?" Wave asked hesitantly, afraid of the answer.

"That emotion makes one weak, makes one unpredictable. That it makes someone unable to serve."

"Damn."

"Tell me about this love interest of yours, or rather what you're looking for," Bols changed the subject, looking towards his commanding officer.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Tatsumi walked into the harsh sunlight when he heard someone announce his name. A teenager, around the same age as Tatsumi, but definitely taller, was the announcer. He had blue hair and dark blue eyes. He wore a blue jacket with a red scarf with an anchor on it, despite the intense heat. He wore simple grey jeans with a belt. He had a sword horizontally clipped his lower back.

"In the left corner, we have Tatsumi the Apprentice Blacksmith!" Wave cried much to the joy of the crowd, "His opponent is Kabu the Butcher! Now, I want a nice clean fight," Wave chuckled to himself, never had he thought he would have to say that, "Let the match begin!"

Tatsumi sized up his opponent, he was bulky. But he was arrogant, Tatsumi decided there was no need to use his Teigu. Tatsumi blocked Kabu's flurry of punches and waited until Kabu was tired. Tatsumi noticed Kabu's defenses slip after a while and Tatsumi immediately struck. Tatsumi slammed his fists into Kabu's chest, making him cry out. Again, Tatsumi hit the man. No surrender was given. Tatsumi crouched and tripped Kabu, before Kabu could fall, Tatsumi reacted and quickly slammed his foot into Kabu's chest, forcing him to fall into the ground faster and harder.

The crowd was silent, awed. "That's enough! The winner is, Tatsumi!" Tatsumi was instructed to head back to the underground chambers and wait for his next match.

Several hours passed and Tatsumi continued to destroy his opponents with relative ease. He had been trained by Leone, an expert in hand to hand combat. Finally, Tatsumi heard Wave's booming voice of the final fight. The winner would then advance and claim the 20,000 Yen prize.

"Is this really necessary?" Run asked quietly, "The young man, Tatsumi, is quite skilled. Shall we allow him to try the Teigu and see if he is a worthy user?"

Esdeath considered the teacher's words, "No, let us see how this plays out."

"For the final fight ladies and gentlemen," Wave paused to clear his dry, raw throat, "Tatsumi the Blacksmith's Apprentice! Verses... Aoi the Sergeant!"

"I hope you've said your prayers, kid," Aoi sneered, "Because by the time I'm done with you, you won't even remember your own name."

Tatsumi said nothing, unimpressed. After fighting Nyau and his weird demon form, he was ready for anything. Tatsumi had watched a few of the fights and had seen Aoi charge and use pure strength to get his opponents appendages into a death grip breaking them easily. Tatsumi just had to be faster. Luckily, Kurome had taught him to be fast, in her own special way of having Natala and Gozuki attack him simultaneously while Doya gave the occasionally shot from her pistols.

"Begin!" Wave shouted, hopefully for the last time.

Up in the judges box, where Esdeath and Run were, Akame watched as well. She had watched the fights, like she said she would. There was an almost familiar way this Tatsumi fought that reminded her too closely of Kurome. The way he dodged some of those punches, like he was dodging a spear or avoiding a gun shot. Akame frowned at one particularly move that looked like something someone would use if they wanted to stop a blade from hitting them seconds before it did. Something Akame remembered Gozuki trying to teach his pupils to do. Akame put together the pieces, this man was part of Night Raid, this man knew Kurome.

Akame grinned, suddenly things were becoming much more interesting. She still had yet to make a decision about Esdeath and the Emperor. Akame grimaced when she thought back to her last meeting with the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, Tatsumi had successfully tired out poor Aoi and defeated him. The crowd cheered Tatsumi's name, chanting it. Tatsumi looked around the stadium in awe before giving a huge smile.

Esdeath fell in love at that moment with that smile, and decided she would keep the boy as one of her potential love interests. Tatsumi swallowed a large lump in his throat when he saw Esdeath approach him.

She congratulated him loudly before snapping a collar around his neck, "You're mine," Esdeath whispered. Those who knew of Esdeath's love list, knew that this poor soul was doomed, and somewhere deep down, so did Tatsumi.

Akame stared at Tatsumi, _How is she? _Akame thought desperately.

* * *

**I honestly wanted to close this chapter awhile ago, but I figured I might as well continue it, get this part over with. I'm actually super excited with the Akame and Tatsumi meet up. **

**Some questions to consider - **

**1\. What do you think Akame's going to say to Tatsumi? **

**2\. Will Tatsumi bond with Wave?**

**3\. What does Wave think about Akame? **

**Also, I apologize for the recent lack of Kurome content, she will be back. I promise. I just want to clear this little bit up, also think back to the anime and manga. Akame tracked Tatsumi there last time and rescued him. Kurome does not seem to care much for Tatsumi, or at least openly like Akame did. I can't promise things will be quite the same, but we'll see. **

**I think that's it, please as always, review this story and pass it along! **

**Disclaimer - I do not own Akame ga Kill, nor do I claim to. **


	15. Chapter 15

"I feel bad for the poor guy," Wave commented, Tatsumi and Esdeath had disappeared into the latter's chambers a few hours ago.

"It is not our place to judge," Run chided, "However, it is... disheartening. The boy did not get a chance."

"What if he has a girlfriend?"

"If he has one, it is, for her sake, best not to mention her existence," Stylish advised.

"Has anyone seen Akame?"

"No, but I suggest we head to bed, while we still can," Seryu said grinning, "Who knows? Tatsumi might find Esdeath attractive to forgo all other relationships."

"Then he is no better than a dog," Stylish sneered, "I believe in many things, but I do not believe in cheating." The others nodded in agreement, before bidding each other good night and heading to their rooms.

On his way back to his room, Wave noticed Akame sitting on the roof staring up at the half-moon. Her long black hair blowing slightly in the breeze. As if sensing his presence, Akame's gaze left the moon, and settled on Wave. Her red eyes seemed to glow in the moon light. Her pale skin seemed more pale than normal.

"Hey Akame, nice night?"

"Indeed."

Wave paused awkwardly, unsure of what to say next, "Right well, good night. Remember, tomorrow Esdeath wants us to be ready a few hours after dawn."

Akame nodded.

_Strange girl_ was Wave's departing thoughts.

OoOoOoOoO

I. Hate. My. Life. Were some of Tatsumi's first thoughts the morning after his terrible night with Esdeath. Rubbing his eyes, Tatsumi groaned quietly before quietly and quickly leaving the bedroom and heading to where he vaguely remembered the dining area to be.

Inside the room were Akame and Wave, two people he hazily remembered being introduced to. However, if Tatsumi was honest to himself, he was trying to block and erase from his memories all events that occurred in the previous twelve hours or so. Including sleeping in the same room with the woman he, or one of the other members of Night Raid, were going to have to kill at some point. He had already tossed out the idea of convincing Esdeath to join Night Raid out the figurative window last night.

Akame was sitting at a large white table, able to comfortable seat 8 people, reading a book. He remembered Akame talking to Run last night, who had a book in his hand, perhaps it was his. Tatsumi noticed Wave waving and wishing him a good morning, a steaming cup of coffee or tea in his hand.

"Morning," Tatsumi mumbled grouchily throwing himself into the chair opposite Akame.

"Didn't sleep well?" Wave observed sympathetically.

"She said she wouldn't do anything," Tatsumi whined allowing his head to bang on the table, disturbing Akame from reading, "But when I woke, she was using me as a body pillow!"

Wave nodded while Akame looked unconcerned. A servant appeared in the doorway a cart loaded with various breakfast foods following him. Akame perked up at the smell of food.

Wave walked over to the table and set down next to Tatsumi on his left, diagonally across from Akame. Akame sorted through the foods first and picked out mostly meat related dishes.

"Shouldn't you eat something healthy? Like fruit as well?" Wave asked trying to pass Akame an apple.

"Mind your own," Akame said curtly before she started to eat at ravenous speeds. Within seconds the plate was clean.

Tatsumi stared at Akame in amazement, _I've only seen one person eat like that. Now that I think about it.. her name is familiar. Kurome. Akame. _

"What?" Akame asked, staring at Tatsumi, having caught his gaze by accident while she was refilling her plate.

"Nothing!" Tatsumi said hurriedly, but continued at Akame's familiar glare, "It's just you look like that one girl from the wanted posters, Kurome."

Akame nodded, "My younger sister, but she betrayed me, her comrades, and the Empire long ago."

"Have you seen her since?" Tatsumi asked.

"No, not since she left. I desire to see her once more, so I can fulfill my promise to her."

"What promise?" Tatsumi squeaked.

Red eyes bored into green before shifting to blue, "That, is something I cannot tell you." _Particularly if she has not told you her part of the deal._

"Tatsumi, Akame, Wave, come with me." A voice sounded from the doorway, there stood Esdeath in all of her cold beauty.

"Ma'am?" Wave asked politely.

"We're going to Fake Mountain," by way of explanation.

"We are?" Tatsumi said dumbfounded, _This might be my chance to escape!_

"Yes, on a patrol. It would make sense that Night Raid would go there, good hiding spots. Akame, you will be going with Tatsumi, Wave will be coming with me. We switch at noon and at Nightfall. By the end of this, each of you will have worked with the others once.

_I'm going with her?! _Tatsumi thought, terrified by the thought _And I thought Kurome was bad, this might be worse.._

OoOoOoOoO

"Tatsumi's been captured!" Lubbock's voice rang through the dining room.

Mein snorted, "That fool, how?"

"He entered this fight," Lubbock laid out the poster, "And well, he won."

"He won?" Mein said disbelievingly, "That runt actually won a tournament?"

"Yes, he did!" Leone defended, "And if you got over your petty hatred, or I suppose crush on him, you would notice these things!"

Mein's face turned red in part embarrassment and part anger, "I do not like him!"

"What happened?" Kurome finally asked, breaking into their conversation.

"Well he won, and then Esdeath put this collar on him and dragged him into the Palace. We, obviously can't get in there."

Kurome looked thoughtful, and glanced back at the poster, "We are not rescuing him, it would be foolish to do so."

"But he's in danger!" Leone and Lubbock protested.

"No, I don't think he is. He does not seem to look like a Night Raid member, he is not part of any poster. Let's look at it this way," Kurome paused and took a sip of her tea, "The poster says that the winner of the tournament will be able to try the Teigu, Extase. Since Tatsumi won, and has not been convicted a member of Night Raid, yet, so he's safe. He's probably trying the Teigu, and since he already has one, it won't work. He'll be back shortly."

Everyone was silent, this was the most, in a serious tone, that they'd ever heard Kurome say. It was.. scary for her to be so serious.

Leone conceded to Kurome's point, as long as Tatsumi was not revealed to be a member of Night Raid, he was safe. "I want to watch him for afar though. If there is an opportunity to save him then we will do so."

"Very well," Kurome said before clearing her breakfast plate and headed to her room, no one noticed she took the poster.

In her room, Kurome laid the poster out on her desk and activated Natala. Natala stared at the poster for a while before gently running a hand over Akame's picture-self.

"She's really here," Kurome whispered, glancing at Natala, who nodded.

Natala stared at the poster for a bit longer before carefully folding it into fourths and withdrawing the book from his pocket. He flipped to the first page and carefully tucked the poster in there, before placing the book back in his pocket and vanishing.

"She's here," Kurome whispered to no one, her voice cracking a bit.

* * *

Alright, this chapter was pretty short and for that I apologize, but I just wanted this as a filler chapter, so I can dedicate more time and probably (hopefully) get the full Akame/Tatsumi and Tatsumi/Wave and Esdeath/Tatsumi stuff done in the next chapter. I'm think it'll be at least 3000 words give or take.

**SilverStarWolfGoddessAmarantha - **

I'm kinda confused on your review. Yes I understand Akame has Murasame and Kurome has Yatsufusa. However, I'm going to assume that something happened to Gozuki at some point in the original manga at some point in Akame ga Kill Zero. In the AgKZ, it is said that Gozuki had Murasame before Akame inherited it. In this story, we'll be assuming that when he died, Akame inherited Murasame before Kurome left with Gozuki as a puppet. At the time of Kurome fighting Gozuki, we'll also be assuming that Gozuki owned Murasame since it does not tell us when Akame inherited that infamous sword.

Does that make more sense?

**Western White Tiger - **

I'm pretty sure your review is longer than my first chapter. Thanks for that, and your compliments towards my writing. I'm trying to stay as close to in character as possible. And I'm glad someone else understands my reasonings on Akame's bitter thoughts towards love.

Kurome, despite her feelings towards Tatsumi, follows orders. She does care for her comrades as shown in the original manga and animation, so I'm trying to reflect that here. Kurome trained Tatsumi to fight different styles of combat. Which makes sense, I mean, he won't just have to fight swords. I figured that guns would be a nice substitute for arrows, and Natala is quite good with the spear. Despite his being collapsable, he can still teach Tatsumi on how to use Incursio's Neuntote.

More questions to consider -

1\. How will Tatsumi work with Akame?

2\. What's your take on this side of Stylish that we've seen so far?

3\. I'm considering creating a Teigu or two to serve my proposes later on in the story, how do you guys feel about that? If you have something in mind that would make a good Teigu, I'm all ears (or eyes?). I'm thinking about doing something fire related but I haven't decided.

4\. And finally, why does my bold not show up?


	16. Chapter 16

Tatsumi trudged silently up the hill, next to an equally quiet assassin. An uncomfortable silence lay in between the pair as they patrolled their side of Fake Mountain. Tatsumi had yet to figure out how to get away, but he figured he should wait until Wave comes to partner with him. If Akame was anything like Kurome, it'd be damn near impossible to get away and then manage to avoid detection. He remembered that day when Najenda had decided to set up a tracking exercise for the group. He still had nightmares on how quickly Kurome had been able to find everyone.

The pair came across a fork in the road, one went straight up to the top and the other veered left, "Which way?" Tatsumi asked. Akame stared at the road for awhile before continuing up towards the top of the mountain.

"I guess we'll go straight, you know Akame, I'd like a bit more conversing about which direction we're going! I mean, what if I was afraid of heights?"

"You would have mentioned it by now," Akame responded, uncaring and achingly familiar.

"No I wouldn't have!"

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Okay, well fine, but still! I'd like to have our route discussed about just a little!"

"No, we are completing our patrol on this mountain before switching partners when get down to the bottom. Nothing more and nothing less."

"We could have taken the lef-" Tatsumi protested again before being cut off as Akame abruptly turned around her red eyes narrowed in annoyance, "I mean, going to the top if great! It's fantastic idea!"

Akame said nothing, as was her custom, before asking, "Have you traveled before?"

Tatsumi nodded, "I did, but we were separated early on, I never saw them again."

"And that was your mistake."

"What? How dare you, they were my childhood friends!"

"You should have set up a meeting point ahead of time. If you knew where you were going, you could have suggested setting up a meeting spot in the next town or something in three days time. More than enough time for the members of your party to get there after being separated."

"She was right, you really are heartless!" Tatsumi roared in anger, "I can see why she lef-" Tatsumi clamped a hand over his mouth having said a bit too much.

Akame whipped around, her red eyes blazing with cold fury, "Who is this girl who said I was heartless?" Akame said her voice just as cold, if not more so, as her eyes. If Tatsumi didn't know any better, he'd think that Akame possessed the Teigu to control ice.

"No one!" Tatsumi said quickly, too quickly.

Akame drew Murasame and leveled the poisoned blade to Tatsumi's throat. "Answer my question, and I will in turn answer one of yours."

Tatsumi considered the offer, here was Kurome's sister, who probably knew why she left the Empire, and all he had to- No he couldn't give away Night Raid, but maybe he could play the cover of a blacksmith, "In my early days of being an apprentice blacksmith, I met this girl. She was part of the Imperial Guard that hangs around the city. She always visited to me," Akame pressed the sword closer to Tatsumi's neck, Tatsumi hastily started to tell his story faster, "And she said that the Elite Seven were nothing more than heartless killers. I upheld my end of the bargain, now you must answer one question of mine. Why did your sister leave the Empire? It's been bothering me ever since you told me this Kurome person was your sister." _Well that's technically true, but I'd been wondering why Kurome left the Empire long before that. _

Akame thought about his question, and in no way was it breaking her deal with Kurome she answered, "Before Kurome left, we had a disagreement. We had been sensing the darkness of the Empire. She wanted to leave the Empire and fight for a new world. I, on the other hand was fine the way it was. Admittedly, I was not happy at the way the Prime Minister treated my comrades, the Elite Seven, and I. However, the man who acted as my father said that service to this man would bring change for all. Smaller villages, like the ones we came from, would never starve again." Akame drew a deep breath and continued her story, "She said I was afraid of change and stormed away. Unfortunately, we weren't on a mission. Kurome confronted the man who led us, acted as our father, protected us, and challenged him to a duel. The man used this sword, Murasame, and battled Kurome. Kurome won. She slew the man thinking that I would accompany her in joining the Revolutionary Army as I know longer had an attachments to the Empire. She was wrong, I was never attached to the man who called himself my father. After he died, the Elite Seven and I were exiled to the mountains."

Tatsumi was silent, "So, if I may ask, who was the man?"

Akame considered his question, "Gozuki."

"So you inherited his sword after he died right?"

"Yes."

"I read on the Wanted Poster that she uses a weapon called Yatsufusa, is that a Teigu?"

"Yes."

"What does it do?" Tatsumi asked, feigning innocence. Akame frowned, _You know very well what is does, but, for the sake of maintaining your cover..._

"It allows the user to employ the dead to her command, as puppets. They retain their most basic feelings. If the person in question loved to protect people, he as a puppet would want to protect Kurome at all costs."

"Does that mean that Kurome could possible have this Gozuki person enslaved?" Tatsumi asked, thinking back to the person that Kurome had as Gozuki.

"I know she does because after she killed him, she brought him back to life with her Teigu."

"She survived your master, does that mean she's better than you?"

Akame slipped back into her emotionless state, "He was never my master. I submit to no one."

Kurome who was watching overhead with Leone and Lubbock grinned and softly said, "You will submit to me, sooner or later. I will assume you have sided with Esdeath, my beloved sister. Soon, you, Natala, and I, we'll be the best of friends, forever."

OoOoOoOoOoO

"So, Tatsumi, how was your patrol with Akame?" Wave asked, "I'll tell you about my patrol with Esdeath."

Tatsumi shuddered, "No thanks, I don't want to hear anymore about Esdeath than I have to."

"Aren't you betrothed to her or something?"

"No! I am not! I refuse to be!" Tatsumi exclaimed.

"That's not what she said," Wave sang teasingly.

"I don't care what she said, I refuse to marry her. I don't even know her!"

"Alright, alright," Wave laughed holding his hands in surrender, "Then tell me about your patrol with Akame, that must've been interesting."

"Well, she's quiet. And her sword scares me."

"Her sword?"

"Yeah, you know, it does kill you even if you get pricked with it."

"It does?" Wave paled, "And I'm patrolling with her next, trade me! I'll take another round of Esdeath."

"Why Esdeath over Akame?"

"The sword," Wave said in a tone that suggested it should have been obvious, "Besides I've know Akame a bit longer than you have, and in the time I've known her, she's been emotionless. Well, except if we talked about love or food."

"Food, I get food. I saw her this morning with that plate of meat," Tatsumi let out a shiver, "But love?"

"Yeah, Stylish said it had something to do with how the Elite Seven were raised, or something."

"How they were raised?"

"The Elite Seven were all sold by their parents at a young age right?" Wave asked, and Tatsumi nodded, "So, they've been trained from a very young age to kill and to assassinate. I would think assassinating would get to you after a while. Anyway, Stylish said that Akame views love as agony and that she shares the same belief as this man who was their leader. His belief was that emotion makes you unfit to serve. I guess Akame reflects that in her general emotionless state."

"His name was Gozuki," Tatsumi said.

"How do you know?"

"Akame and I made a deal. She would answer one of my questions and I'd answer one of hers. I said she was heartless and cruel, just like an old friend of mine said. She pressed that sword to my neck and demanded I explain. But I asked why her sister, Kurome, left the Empire. She said it was because she sensed the darkness. Kurome apparently killed this Gozuki guy and left the Empire."

"I get it now!" Wave exclaimed, "Akame hates love because the last thing she remembers loving was Kurome. Then, when Kurome left the Empire after killing the man Akame looked up to as a mentor, it taught Akame that love only ends in betrayal and agony!"

"That makes sense!" Tatsumi agreed but privately thought _Well, that's kind of true, I left out some important parts._

Kurome laughed quietly to herself, since she was still trailing Tatsumi from a distance, _You're close, but, that's not the entire reason._

As the two continued their patrol of Fake Mountain, Tatsumi figured out that they were very much alike, and came from somewhat similar situations. Wave offered to be Tatsumi sparring partner should he find himself particularly frustrated with Esdeath, more so than usual. Tatsumi laughed and agreed offering to be the same to Wave if he ever needed it for something. All of sudden Tatsumi leapt out and defended Wave from a deadly tree. The pair stood back to back and faced off against a tree-like danger beast with a single cyclops like eye in the center carved into the bark.

"Thanks!" Wave shouted over the Danger Beasts' cries, "I would've been dead if not for you," Wave drew his sword and shouted something about how the trees were unlike the Danger Beasts of the Seas he was used to, and that they were inedible.

_Weird, I protected him. As if he was a friend, one of Night Raid. You know, I think he might not be so bad with Night Raid... if I can convince him before I go.._Tatsumi thought to himself before drawing Incursio's key and preparing to fight the trees. Before starting the fight, he realized that this might be a great opportunity to escape.

Tatsumi escaped during the fight when Wave's attention was elsewhere, much to Wave's fear. When the fight was over and Wave realized that Tatsumi was no where to be found, he was less than excited. Esdeath was going to have his head, in fear of being tormented by Esdeath, Wave quickly equipped his Teigu, Grand Chariot, and quickly ran off to find Tatsumi.

Tatsumi, who had also equipped his Teigu, Incursio, jumped over a small ravine with glee. He had, in his mind, successfully escaped his fate as Esdeath's husband.

"You there!" Wave shouted, his voice slightly distorted by Grand Chariot's helmet, "I am looking for a man, but you there, that armor. I know that armor. It belongs to Night Raid! Which makes you a member of Night Raid. While I am honor bound to find my commander's missing future husband, I am also honor bound not to let you escape! Your armor, Incursio, was a prototype for my own armor. Here I come!" Wave shot forward at blinding speeds pushing Tatsumi into a nearby rock. The rock cracked under the force of the bodies. The man in Incursio, made no move to fight back.

"I've heard about Night Raid, you commit murder in the dark. Cowards, the lot of you," Wave sneered.

"Cowards are we?" a voice said from the darkness of the trees.

"Who's there?!" Wave shouted, taking his guard from Tatsumi holding his fists up ready for a new attack.

The voice made a small clucking noise and two figures appeared from the undergrowth of the trees, "Don't you know?" The voice sounded again, "Night Raid never goes in alone."

* * *

Bet you weren't seeing that coming!

Questions to consider because I'm really liking doing this -

1\. How did you like that little Akame and Tatsumi scene?

2\. Takes on Wave and Tatsumi's patrol? Personally, I feel that the similarities weren't stressed on in the manga/anime as much as they could've been between the two, and I'm trying to elaborate on that.

3\. I'm considering changing the title (again), any ideas?

4\. Final question - Who are the new comers from Night Raid that were just saw at the end?

Thanks for all your support in the story, couldn't have made it this far without you, I think this is the longest chapter to date. For now. Let me know what you think in the reviews.

Disclaimer - I do not own Akame ga Kill.


	17. Chapter 17

Akame and Esdeath had been patrolling Fake Mountain, and it's surrounding mountains for a few hours now. Neither making an attempt of a conversation, something that was welcomed by both women. While she had known both men for not very long, Akame had thought that Wave and Tatsumi were very similar. She also had a feeling that Wave tried to break the ice, so to speak, with Esdeath on their patrol much like Tatsumi had done with her.

The red-eyed assassin thought back to her conversation with Tatsumi. Akame grinned to herself, she had tricked Tatsumi into telling her what she wanted to know. Admittedly, she figured Kurome was trailing her, she did after all detect two presences following Tatsumi and herself on their patrol. Night Raid was certainly bold. Though, Kurome would know better not to reveal her presence, but she supposed Kurome couldn't be blamed for her new comrades' inability to stay hidden.

"Akame," Esdeath's voice broke through the comfortable silence, "Why are you truly here?"

Akame was taken aback by that question, it was unexpected. The Elite Seven had gone over all of the possible scenarios and interactions that she and Esdeath could have had. Green had mentioned that it was an inevitable question to be asked, one she had to prepare herself for, "I'm sorry?"

"Years ago, when I first became a General, myself and an old colleague of mine wanted to renew the Elite Seven's service to the Empire. She and I had agreed that you were all talented and it was a shame that you were all left to rot in the mountains," Esdeath said shortly.

"Surely you have your guesses?"

"I believe that the minister believes you to be a spy for the Revolutionary Army," Esdeath says bluntly, "I disagree."

"Do you?"

"I have heard of the mountain rage you guys live in. I know that unless you have the exact location of your base, then you will never find it. There are too many caves, and it is high enough up that it is unlikely that someone will stumble upon it."

Akame chewed thoughtfully on what Esdeath said, perhaps she and the others had underestimated Esdeath's skills, "It is true we are very hard to find. Have you considered the possibility that we approached them about joining?"

"I have."

"And?"

"I believe that the chances of that are slim. I'm told you are constantly being watched by the Prime Minister. Which means that it is very unlikely that even one of you could sneak away long enough to send a message."

"That's true," Akame said agreeably, "And what, Esdeath, have you decided?"

Now it was Esdeath's turn to be taken aback. A slightly insane glimmer of light appeared in her eye, Akame was indeed a worthy match. She could and would rival Akame in both skill and cunningness, Esdeath expected nothing less from a member of the Elite Seven.

"I'll let you know one thing, we understand where the thoughts of those who leave the Empire come from," Akame commented rather somberly, "I ask this of you, Esdeath, if you fail something, what happens? Will your punishment be as severe as ours? Or perhaps less so?"

OoOoOoOoOoO

Two figures stepped out from the under brush, a new voice spoke, "Must you always get yourself into trouble, Bulat?"

Tatsumi smiled beneath his helm, Leone was smart. After all, Tatsumi did have the element of surprise, so they couldn't let the enemy know that he was part of Night Raid. Bulat had already been spotted as being part of Night Raid and Incursio was supposedly his.

"Bulat? I've seen you on wanted posters, but I honestly thought you'd be more skilled in combat," Wave crowed.

Tatsumi made no response for a few seconds, composing himself to say something wise, "Just getting fired up, won't win a battle and it won't save yourself."

"Wise words," Wave said, "I believe in honor. I know your name, it's time you know mine. My name is Wave."

_So it's true, _Tatsumi thought to himself, _this man in armor is Wave_. Tatsumi noticed that Wave's attention was entirely focused on the two approaching figures. Tatsumi quickly shook himself from Wave's grasp and jumped behind the two people.

Wave noticed his captive had his escaped and growled to himself. The one on the left was a man with blond hair and a white coat. He wore a grim expression and the lower half of his face was covered by a scarf. From behind his back, he drew a collapsable spear. The one on the right was a blond woman wearing cowgirl apparel and twirling a pistol in each hand. Her green eyes spoke of confidence and determination.

Wave considered his two opponents, cocking his head to the side, "I don't think I've seen you two on the wanted posters before."

The pair made said nothing in response, the first voice sounded again, "I think you'll find those two more than a match for you. In fact, they might defeat you. I suggest, you leave."

"Never! I will not walk away from here shamed by my actions," Wave roared before rushing forward, he did not notice that "Bulat" had escaped to the trees.

Wave lunged at the cowgirl at almost blinding speeds, but found himself blocked by a spear. Wave turned his attention and fond himself facing starling royal blue eyes. His pale face had a certain youthfulness to it which made Wave think about how old this guy was. Wave flipped out of range. The blond spun his spear around, and readied himself again. Soon Wave was on defense, Wave ducked around a swipe only to flinch as a gunshot was heard. Wave looked down and found a bullet embedded in his armor. Wave, so transfixed at the bullet didn't notice the spear coming close to his neck until last minute.

Wave quickly ducked and spun out of reach once again. He growled to himself and launched himself at the cowgirl. Before the blond could grab him, he leapt powerfully into the air. As soon as Wave deemed it a decent height at, he released the woman.

The woman smiled at Wave almost amusedly, this angered Wave greatly. "GRAND FALL!" Wave screamed quickly plummeting down towards the flailing woman. Wave grinned to himself, "I have you now."

The woman continued to smile before she vanished into the wind, however, not before she shot a round of bullets at Wave. Wave felt several hit his armor and when he landed, he finally noticed that he was alone.

The mysterious pair and voices were no where to be seen, and the invaluable Teigu, Incursio, was gone. Wave had failed.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Location - Imperial Palace

"Wave," Esdeath sighed, "You are skilled, but your mind is weak. You allowed your emotions to control your actions."

Wave was kneeled in front of a small throne in which Esdeath was perched on. She was flanked by Akame and Run. Bols was standing off to the side of Wave, carrying a large slab of marble.

"You allowed Tatsumi to escape you. Furthermore, you were unable to capture the legendary evolutionary armor, Incursio," Run agreed, "This is disappointing."

"This may not be his fault," Akame said, taking pity on Wave, much to the surprise of the present company, "Describe the two you fought."

"There was a man and a woman. The man was blond and looked to be your age, if not a bit younger. He had blue eyes and a collapsable spear. He wore a scarf around his face. The woman, she wore strange clothes belonging to a rancher or a cowboy. She cared two pistols."

"Esdeath, I suggest you remove these stones and forgive Wave. I also recommend foregoing any and all punishments."

This shocked everyone, and Esdeath was almost afraid to ask why. Especially given Akame's emotionless tone. While the girl had been known to speak this way, her eyes at the very least shed some light to what she was thinking. However, now, her eyes were empty.

However, Esdeath was still required to ask, "Why? I would like to hear you reasoning for this. You must know something that we do not."

"The man Wave faced was Natala. He was ranked number nine in the assassination program. He and a woman named Gin were asked to join us for a mission once. He did not make it. The person leaking us information was captured and tortured into revealing our position. We were ambushed by a small group of about twenty. He fell defending my sister from a poisoned arrow shot from a bow Teigu possessed by some people from the Western tribes. When Natala fell, Kurome was scary. She unleashed hordes of members of the dead that she had killed previously. This easily turned the tides in our favor. However, before Natala died, Kurome killed him. This enslaved Natala to her will."

"So the first man was a puppet."

"Yes," Akame whispered, "The second woman was an assassin Kurome was sent to kill. Her name is Doya. Doya is a very skilled assassin easily on parr with guns as Natala is with his spear. She and Natala make a dangerous combination."

"What does that mean?" Run asked, suddenly understanding why Wave stood no chance against two master assassins.

"It means," Esdeath started, "That Kurome was there, and if she was there, that means if Natala and Doya fell, she had more members of the dead she could easily overpower Wave with."

Wave looked like he was about to protest before Run cut him off, "Don't, Wave. Armor Teigus are extremely strenuous on the body, the fight would have exhausted you. Then you would've been killed." Wave frowned at the man before sighing and nodding his agreement.

"There's one more thing," Akame spoke in what seemed like pride, "You're lucky Kurome didn't call out some of her more... unfriendly, puppets."

* * *

Another chapter comes and goes, and I've reached an astounding 47 reviews, 31 follows and 24 favorites! Thank you everyone for your support in the story. I've kinda enjoyed adding questions at the end for my reviewers to answer. So I'll just continue that trend -

1\. What do you think Esdeath thinks about Akame? Akame has already, in her own way, agreed to be on the fence about leaving the Empire.

2\. That was an interesting twist at the end of Wave's fight with the mysterious voices. Does it make sense that Tatsumi was suspected to be Bulat? I'm assuming that Night Raid buried Bulat when Tatsumi got him off the ship, which means no trace of him actually dying has been recorded.

3\. Any other general thoughts?


	18. Chapter 18

Wave frowned to himself for the third time that morning. He kept thinking back to what Akame had said, what Esdeath had said, about his failure.

_"It means," Esdeath started, "That Kurome was there, and if she was there, that means if Natala and Doya fell, she had more members of the dead she could easily overpower Wave with."_

_Wave looked like he was about to protest before Run cut him off, "Don't, Wave. Armor Teigus are extremely strenuous on the body, the fight would have exhausted you. Then you would've been killed." Wave frowned at the man before sighing and nodding his agreement._

_"There's one more thing," Akame spoke in what seemed like pride, "You're lucky Kurome didn't call out some of her more... unfriendly, puppets."_

He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. _Unfriendly puppets? __They were all unfriendly! __And young.._ Wave shook his head in effort to clear his head, he had a job. Stylish was missing. I mean, he stuff was still there, all the important stuff was still there, according to Seryu, but the Doctor himself was missing. Wave was tasked with searching the city with Seryu and Bols. Esdeath was to head to the mountains and Akame the forests. Run was asked to search anywhere from the sky. While finding Stylish was an important goal, Esdeath had also asked them to keep an eye out for Tatsumi. Wave, unfortunately for him, was also asked to head to all the blacksmith shops in the city in case Tatsumi had gone back there.

_Oh well, _Wave thought, s_o my search continues._

-o-

Akame walked around familiar forests with no path goal in mind. She knew it was unlikely to stumble upon Kurome and consequently Tatsumi. That in mind, she couldn't return to the Capital for awhile. She had to make her search convincing, which means she'd return around mid-day tomorrow.

Akame cocked her head to the side when she heard a strange rustle. Akame sensed no blood lust but nevertheless grasped the hilt of her poisoned blade and unsheathed the blade slightly. It was night after all, a perfect time for someone to attack. A twig snapped, causing Akame to whirl around in the direction of the noise. A cloaked creature ghosted out of the trees followed closely by a large ape-like creature. The cloaked creature held out his strange knife in a none-threatening way. A rolled piece of paper was attached to the blade, Akame wearily stepped towards the creature.

"For...you," the cloaked figure moaned.

"Henter..?" Akame asked slowly, the creature looked pleased to be recognized and nodded.

"Aka...me.." Henter croaked, "Ku..ro...me..message.."

Akame took the paper and unrolled it. The contents were simply a Wanted Poster, Kurome's Wanted Poster. The casual smirk etched on Kurome's lips, the dark eyes that were lit with private amusement, and most importantly, the graceful features that Akame possessed as well. Akame glanced over at the giant ape and then back to Henter.

"Bye..bye.." Henter gasped out before vanishing, the ape following him.

Akame stared at the spot before a sudden wind tore the paper from her hands, wildly grasping for it caused her to enter a clearing. The clearing where she and Kurome had first reconnected and later trained. The Church.

-o-

"And that's what I learned about Esdeath's group, the Jaegers." Tatsumi paused, "There's one more thing, they all have Teigus."

"Intersting," Leone said, "How strong do you think they are?"

"Just as strong as us," Tatsumi said easily, "But Esdeath.. she's on a whole new level. Now, with Incursio, as I am, I'm screwed."

Kurome snorted in an entirely unladylike manner causing heads to swivel her way, "She, could take Esdeath easy," was all she said before she got up and left the room.

"Well," Lubbock spoke awkwardly, "How about we celebrate properly now that Tatsumi's back?"

"That's fine with me!" Leone cried happily, bring out from the kitchen several bottles of sake and other wines.

Tatsumi poured himself a drink, but paused at drinking it, "There's one more thing about Akame.. I think she knows who I am."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she did," Mein commented.

"Why wouldn't she turn him in to Esdeath?"

"No idea," Mein said shrugging casually, "I'd ask Kurome, but..."

"She's not the most approachable on the best of days," Leone finished.

Tatsumi nodded in agreement before raising his glass, "Cheers!"

"Cheers!" were the echoed replies before four glasses were slammed back onto the table and more shots poured.

-o-

"Fools, drinking," Kurome spat to the always silent Natala who merely raised a single eyebrow as if remembering a different occasion in which Kurome behaved similarly to her drinking comrades.

"That was one time, Natala," Kurome protested slightly cheeks slightly pink with embarrassment, "Besides, I wasn't the only one."

The blond went silent in agreement. Kurome stared at Natala for a few moment when they reached her room and reached into her inside jacket pocket pulling out a Wanted Poster.

Natala stared at it for a moment, it certainly capture Kurome in a fitting light. He pulled out the book and the two pens and walked over to a nearby wall. He braced the book onto the wall and flipped to a blank page. He scribbled a few characters onto the book and tore the page out. He tucked the book back into his pocket as well as one of the pens.

He extended the torn out page to Kurome, and in small neat characters were "What now?"

Kurome stared at the Wanted Poster for a few moments before drawing Yatsufusa and out crawled two black masses. The first a cloaked man with a red face and the second a large lumbering ape creature.

She wordlessly extended the Wanted Poster to the red faced man who cocked his head in response. "Deliver this to my sister."

"Why..?" the creature moaned, almost pained.

"You and Apeman will deliver this to my sister. From what I know about Esdeath, she will have each of the Jaegers split up looking for her missing fiance. Akame will know how to survive in the forests at night. However, Akame knows that I will not make so easy to find our trail, so she'll wander aimlessly." Kurome paused and looked at Natala who smiled slightly in remembrance, "She will most likely, instinctually, head to the old church where we first met up."

The creature seemed to accept this answer and took the piece of paper but before vanishing he croaked one word, "Come." Kurome nodded and the four left through Kurome's bedroom window.

Kurome followed Apeman and Henter for about half an hour, making sure that neither had any desire for blood. She had long ago recalled Natala within the safety of her Teigu, and relied on Henter and Apeman to serve as protection.

She got to the clearing before Akame did, and figured that Akame would come from the road. Kurome positioned herself from atop the trees, careful not to give her presence away. Kurome cleared her mind and steadied her breathing and most importantly, slowed her heart down.

Kurome watched the interaction from above, and when the poster was delivered she deactivated her Teigu. She nearly laughed when she saw her ever-so graceful older sister scramble for the Wanted Poster.

Akame upon realizing where she was made sure that there were no humans around before calling out loud, "Kurome, enough already. Why don't you come out of the trees that you so cleverly hide in?"

-o-

* * *

I am an evil person, aren't I? That cliffy. Sorry it took so long to for me to update (not that you guys aren't used to it, but..) anyway, this is what I've got for you.

Questions -

1\. Akame was proud of Kurome's less than friendly puppets, and Kurome was sure that Akame could take out Esdeath. Why do you think, that even after their disagreements, the sisters put so much faith in each other?

2\. Changed the description again... not really a question..

3\. That cliffhanger at the end, what do think will happen? Will the sisters fight to the death? Will they go their separate ways in the end after all? Will Akame join Night Raid? Will Kurome join the Empire again?


	19. Chapter 19

Previously -

_"There's one more thing about Akame.. I think she knows who I am."_

_"I wouldn't be surprised if she did," Mein commented._

_"Why wouldn't she turn him in to Esdeath?"_

_"No idea," Mein said shrugging casually, "I'd ask Kurome, but..."_

_"She's not the most approachable on the best of days," Leone finished._

-o-

"Akame," Kurome voice sounded behind, "I thought I had my presence disguised well enough."

"You did," Akame agreed, "However... I know you." Kurome cocked her head to the side disbelievingly.

"It's been awhile," Akame nodded in agreement, "We've both changed in that time." Another nod.

"You've grown," the elder whispered randomly, "You're almost as tall as I am."

"Maybe you've just gotten shorter," Kurome shot back.

"You look like our father," Akame remarked as she took in her sister's appearance, as if pretending whatever Kurome said didn't happen. It was true, Kurome had his eyes and his stubborn defiance. She had all his weaknesses and none of his strengths.

"Aren't you going to attack me?" Kurome asked, "You are serving _him_ still."

"Whom I serve is none of your concern," the red eyed assassin said sharply, "Are you sure you're the one controlling Gozuki and him not controlling you?"

Kurome's dark eyes narrowed before she tightly said, "I can assure you, I can control what is mine."

"Anger does not look good on you," Akame commented offhandedly.

Kurome drew Yatsufusa at that, "Is there a point you're trying to make, Sister?"

A poisoned katana was drawn as well, and the sisters' sword clanged against each other lightly, neither putting much weight into the swing, a test.

"Did you get my note?" Akame said, still putting light pressure on Kurome's blade who nodded in response, "And?"

Kurome clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on her blade, "I also received a note from your-"

"Our," Akame interjected

"-your comrades." Kurome finished, "I am skeptical, as you can understand."

"Maybe you have matured over the years we've been apart."

"Maybe I have."

"Regardless, what have you decided? Chief seemed very open to the idea of adding your skills to that of the Revolutionary Army."

"When you killed our... father, you did two things. The first, is that you both freed and imprisoned us. The second, you gave us uncertainty and a new drive."

"Well that's just wonderful," Kurome sneered.

"The Prime Minister suspects us of treason already, we are on a very thin line. Now, let's compare notes. Esdeath is calculating and only plays pieces when she knows of their certainty to succeed. This makes things, strangely, unpredictable with her. She admitted that the Minister believes the Seven to be traitors, however improbable and unlikely. He allows Esdeath to do as she pleases since Esdeath has no interest in power or politics, only the hunt, the fight." Akame paused and allowed this information to sink in waiting for Kurome's response.

"What do you want me to say?" Kurome finally asked after several minutes had passed and the sun was just about to rise.

"I want you to come with me, I've decided."

Kurome snarled, "You must have lost more than just your skill in those mountains if you think I'll ever join the Empire again! I have a damn Wanted Poster, Akame. I have never known you to be a fool, but now, I am seriously starting to reconsider!"

Akame dropped her sword and sheathed it, "No, I'm saying to the mountains that I've lived with the others for the past three years. After all," Akame smiled thinly, "We're going to need one heck of a good alibi to join the Revolutionary Army and Night Raid, now aren't we?"

"And if I refuse?" Kurome countered.

"You have every right to. I abandoned you when you needed me most," was the quiet response, "I'm tired of fighting Kurome. I'm tired of living this way, always controlled never free."

"Things won't change for us, any of Night Raid, if we win, you know that right? From then on, we'll take the blame for the murders and crimes we've committed, even if the Resistance wins."

"I am.. prepared for that. We, are prepared for that."

Kurome sheathed her sword, "Welcome to Night Raid, let's go find our comrades."

-o-

"Where the heck is Kurome? It's been three damn days!" Tatsumi called to Leone as he slammed his supplementary weapon against a pair of very familiar scissors. The large man wielding them laughed.

"This is so much fun!" He cried gleefully opening the scissors and trying to cut Tatsumi. Tatsumi ducked quickly, and then spun his feet out to try and trip the large man.

The man laughed and easily stepped backward out of range. Tatsumi tried a technique that Natala showed him. He made a show of swinging it from one direction before letting go of the spear and activating his special trump card, allowing him to go invisible while the opponent was too focused on the weapon coming at him.

Mein, who was fighting nearby with Leone taking on some foot soldiers, took this opportunity to shoot the giant from behind while Tatsumi ran to help Lubbock. Lubbock was fighting a man with sword for hands and ice skates for feet. Lubbock had this point only survived due to having quick reaction times and being able to restrain the man every once in awhile, tripping him. Well, that and sheer dumb luck. Lubbock grunted as a blade cut into his face slightly, he dodged too slow. He quickly through one of the knives he had hidden his waist-line at mutated man. The mutated man blocked with a hand sword but gasped when the head of a spear pierced his chest.

"So this is how it ends..." the man trailed off before the spear was dragged upwards, cutting the creature in half vertically.

The remaining Night Raid members surveyed the bodies on the ground, all back to back in a circle. A strange clapping erupted from around them and out of the forest walked more strange foot soldiers as well as Dr Stylish flanked by a few more mutants.

"I must applaud your efforts, Tatsumi," Stylish spoke, "That ex-assassin sure does know how to hide a scent and trail. But... no one has been tracked by some of my surgically altered creations. Particle two that are ideal for smelling and hearing things."

"You followed us," Tatsumi realized.

"I did, and I once I knew the location of your base, I called my forces too me to take you on. You have no idea how hard it is to disguise your presence from eight master assassins."

_"8?" _

_"_Yes eight. Yourself, that pair sisters, Natala (charming young man when he lived), a strange cowgirl, our own master of ice, and two of your comrades."

"What about Wave?" Tatsumi asked.

"Ah yes, well he's a sailor. They can't smell or hear anything other than the sea." The Doctor replied offhandedly. "But now, I think the poison should work. Sweet dreams, Night Raid..."

Tatsumi slowly sunk to his knees the armor melting away, the others collapsed similarly around him. Eyes closing but Tatsumi did not quite lose consciousness.

A gun shot. Another one. A third. A thumping body. Swords unsheathed. A voice. Two voices. Ten voices. A gasp.

"It cannot be..."

"Don't give in quite yet, kid..."

"Took you long enough.."

Tatsumi forced his eyes open and the last thing he saw were people of various clothes before the world spun. Before everything went black.

* * *

I should consider being nicer in the future.. But it probably won't happen, my apologies.

To answer the reviews -

Guest -

You're right, I did ask that question earlier. But that was before the sisters had officially reconnected. Now that they were about to reconnect after a few years, I figured I'd pose the question again.

Western White Tiger -

In Chapter 16, Akame said she didn't want change. Perhaps that's what she's running from? I actually can't tell you yet, sorry. But that little bit is a clue.

1\. So who are these new comers?

2\. What did you think of that Akame and Kurome interaction? There is a reason for mentioning their parents, I promise.


	20. Chapter 20

Tatsumi opened up his eyes to find himself in a wooden room. He was sitting on a plush bed and had a ridiculously comfortable pillow that his head was resting on. He would've immediately panicked thinking he was stuck with Esdeath, but he saw the same backpack he came to the Capital with resting against the wall by a dresser. Well that, and he had no collar on marking him as Esdeath's property and he didn't see Esdeath or any of her subordinates. He was safe. Sort of. He still didn't know where he was.

Tatsumi threw off the covers and put his feet on the cool wooden floors. He grabbed Incursio, which was leaning against the wooden bedside table, and carefully opened the door. He immediately heard laughter. Unfamiliar laughter. Then he heard a strange voice, and more laughter. Strangely enough, that one almost sounded like Leone's laughter.

He considered his options, he could A) charge in there guns ablaze so to speak or B) calmly walk in, he was about to chose when he heard a familiar voice call his name, "Hey Tatsumi, nice of you to join us." He paused, where had he heard that? The Empire. Kurome's evil sister. Esdeath's best friend, not that she has friends or anything, but you know.

As he walked into the room, he saw a lot of new faces. They all seemed to be around his age or a bit older, easily fitting in with the rest of Night Raid. He noticed Kurome sitting at the edge of one of the sofas looking somewhat at ease. Two other strangers shared a chair with her. Leone set in between two men who looked like they were in the middle of telling jokes. He saw his Boss sitting in an arm chair speaking to another man who looked important with a horned man standing behind her.

"Who are all these people?" Tatsumi asked uneasily, "Are they from the Revolutionary Army or something? Also, please tell me I'm dreaming and I did not hear Akame here. Because that means I'm doomed since she follows that freaky psychopath!"

Almost everyone in the room laugh, Kurome even cracked a smile. Akame snorted in amusement before clearing her throat for silence, "Tatsumi, may I introduce you to a few new comrades?"

"No, no you may not." Tatsumi said, "So you knew."

"I trained with Kurome and Natala, I knew those moves. Even taught a few of those to Kurome," Akame said casually.

"Are we sure this is the Akame I met in the Capital?" Tatsumi asked his boss, "I remember her being, well, depressing."

Kurome actually laughed, something that shocked all of Night Raid, having never heard the sound, "While I agree that my sister is depressing, it is sadly the same person. Most of these people here were part of the Elite Seven."

Tatsumi's jaw dropped before he weakly said, "The Elite Seven?"

Kurome nodded and looked about to say something before the horned man cut in, "Tatsumi, your room, it wouldn't happen to have a made bed would it?"

"No?"

The blue haired man with horns suddenly paled, his eyes widening in complete horror, "So it is imperfect?"

"I'm sorry?" Tatsumi said confused, "I didn't have time to make it, too busy suspecting all these people here."

"That is no excuse for your lack of tidiness!" The man replied, "Ms. Najenda, might I go make that bed and organize the room? It will not take but a moment."

Najenda waved a hand in obvious dismissal and the man reacted instantly, running out of the room. "Sorry about that Tatsumi," Najenda or Boss said, "That is my new Imperial Arms, Lightning Flash Susanoo, he's a bit of a neat freak. Now," Najenda clapped her hands together, "Introductions. Night Raid, this is the Elite Seven, well, Five now."

The members of the Elite Seven stood up and bowed, even Akame, "The only other unknown here is Chelsea, who is a recruit from the Revolutionary Army."

Tatsumi's stomach rumbled loudly after all was said causing a roar of laughter. "I'm not surprised you're hungry, Tatsumi." A man with golden eyes remarked, "My name is Chief, shall we go get something to eat?" Tatsumi minutely nodded, "Great! Follow me."

"Absolutely not," Akame said, "You can't cook, you'll burn this place to the ground."

"I can cook!" Chief protested, "And that only happened once!"

"There was that time when you poisoned half of us with food poisoning because you wanted to wake up early and make breakfast for the group." One man with glasses murmured not too quietly

"Shut up Green!" Chief snapped, "I can cook. Besides, it's not my fault you guys have weak stomachs."

"Chief, my friend, have you seen what Akame and Kurome have digested without problem?" A woman said, "They can digest practically anything, you put Akame on bedrest for half a month after your breakfast stunt! Kurome was no better."

"Poney, I have the sudden urge to make you do all the hunting for breakfast," Chief replied easily.

Green and Poney looked hopefully over at Akame to step in who sighed in response and shot a look to a different woman who shrugged in response. "Chief, you may not cook, I'm sorry. However, you may lead all of us to the kitchen as I believe it is time for lunch. I have prepared a collection of assorted meats as I do not know the tastes of everyone here."

Kurome groaned along with the Elite Five, "Really Akame, meat? Again? Chief's cooking is bad enough, let's not add your meat to the pot."

"Hush Tsukushi," Akame replied calmly, as if used to this reaction, "Meat plays a vital role in the diets of people. It is very healthy." She paused for a moment before shooting a glance at Kurome, "Besides, it's better than Kurome's cooking. Night Raid here as probably all become accustomed to sweet things, sweet things that are not productive to one's health."

Almost immediately Kurome stood up and stormed out of the room a few seconds later they could hear a door slamming shut. Susanoo chose that moment to enter the room, "Miss. Najenda, I believe your friend is angry."

Lubbock was the first to speak, "What's her problem?"

"Let's just say..." Chief started.

"Kurome's not very happy to see us again.." Green continued.

"We're acting to much like we were before.." Tsukushi followed.

"And my little sister may not be too happy about that." Akame finished staring at the spot Kurome was just sitting.

"I don't suppose you want to explain that, do you?" Mein said a bit defensively, Kurome may have vouched for these newcomers, but tensions were still high. Besides, she didn't trust these assassins one bit, yet.

"That I'm afraid lies in the past about two and a half years ago." Poney said looking a bit glum.

"Shall we explain it over breakfast?" Chief asked, "We'd be more than happy to."

"Yes, explain then." Najenda ordered, "Besides, if I know Kurome, if we make something she likes, she'll have to come and join us."

* * *

Here is the long awaited update. Due to encouragement on writing it, I did. Now, I know this lacks a bit of detail, but I assure you, I'll be taking about five or eight chapters down in a bit and remodeling most, if not all, of it. So look out for that in a couple weeks.

I also have some good news and some bad news.

My good news is - I have a new story I'm donating some time to. So definitely be checking those out. Okay, that's not really good news, but it's news! I mean, that's good right?

More good news - This story is getting a make over, this means longer chapters, less plot holes, better (hopefully) writing, and detail. Lots more detail.

Bad news - Since I'll be slowly remodeling my chapters, it means I'll be, well, busy remodeling. That means this story is going on the back burner. I have plans to completely remodel and finish this story by New Years. Hopefully. Depends on my motivation, but I will get this story done damn it!

To those more interested in my other two stories, I will be uploading a chapter tonight (well, tomorrow morning for me) on A Hundred Ways to Fall in Love. It'll be a one-shot featuring Akame and Kurome (though they're not romantically involved). Just some regular old sibling jealousy, I'm sure if you have siblings, you'll understand.

For the Lost Sister story, I'm about half way through a chapter. Should be up tomorrow if not the day after.

As always, let me know what you think.


	21. Chapter 21

Akame was the last one to leave the room as the rest of Night Raid and the Elite Seven had headed to the kitchen for food. She lingered and considered heading up to where she vaguely remembered Kurome walking to. Probably down the hall and the last door on the left, she always chose that room. Deciding against following Kurome, the red-eyed assassin shook her head, and followed her comrades, she figured that angering her little sister this early was _not _the way she wanted to start their reunion.

Chief, thankfully, was _not _cooking, but ingredients had been left out for her. It would seem that she was making Kurome's favorite, _Pity, _she thought to herself, _It's never meat._

"So," Tatsumi finally broke the silence from his place at the table, "What's up Kurome?"

The Elite Seven simultaneously let out long, heavy sighs, "Where to begin?" One of them said.

"Kurome's..." Chief began before he stopped and thought about the best adjective to describe Kurome.

"Difficult?" Green suggested.

"Challenging?"

"Annoying?"

"Stubborn?"

"Evil?" A few eyebrows raised at that last one, "What?" Gal defended, "She's evil! She's pranked me so many times, it's unfair. Natala always helped too. Stupid Group of Terror."

Akame entered the room with a sheet of cookie dough, "Kurome's prideful and likes being right about everything."

"Pot, be nice to Kettle," Tsukushi said teasing her friend.

Night Raid at this point, was absolutely confused. They had always thought that the Elite Seven would be serious people with cruel personalities. But here, they were acting like a large, slightly dysfunctional family. Akame stuck out her tongue at Tsukushi and contemplated through a blob of cookie dough at her before turning back into the kitchen and setting the cookies into the oven.

"What's Kurome's problem with you?" Tatsumi asked quietly, "She's never-"

"She's always behaved like this," Chief interrupted, "Though that's mostly due to Akame's ability to spoil her.

Akame spluttered in surprise, "I do _not _spoil Kurome."

"That's bull and you know it." Poney said shortly, "Name _one _time you've said no to Kurome. Just one time."

"You know, I think I'm going to go check on those cookies. I wonder if they're done?"

"Coward!" Green called after his red-eyed comrade's lithe fleeing form.

"Cowards live longer, Green!" She called back over her shoulder, "Explains why Gal's lived this long."

"Chief, permission to kill?" Gal asked his superior, his eyes narrowing.

"Permission denied."

"You're not exactly what I pictured," Leone said quietly, "You're all too cheerful and relaxed."

The Elite Seven, or rather, what was left of them, fell somber, "We've all killed countless amounts of people since we were young. Is it not better to try to look for a light than to allow yourself to be swallowed by guilt?"

"We're assassins," Chief said finality, "It's all we've ever known. It's all we'll ever be."

-o-

Kurome was pacing her room while Natala was watching, doubled over with silent laughter.

"This is not funny!" She snapped angrily causing him to laugh silently even harder, "This is all your fault."

Natala raised an eyebrow, surprisingly being able to stop laughing for a moment. He quickly wrote down a few characters down on a piece of paper and handed it over, "So you just going to hide yourself in here? With me?"

"Go away." Kurome said in annoyance. Natala had always been able to jab at her while being able to make her see the truth. It was an annoying gift, in Kurome's modest and experienced opinion. Even dead, Natala was able to set her straight.

A few more characters were scribbled, "Go speak to her. Or I'll drag her here myself."

Kurome stared at Natala for a moment. His blue eyes seemed to twinkle in amusement and worry. His stance was relaxed yet defiant. He was substantially taller than Kurome, and always provided long hugs when they were needed. Natala held out his arms obviously expecting Kurome to rush at him for a long hug and maybe a short cry.

However, to Natala's disappointment, he felt himself being recalled into Yatsufusa's blade. He smiled sadly, almost pityingly at his mistress, _If only I had the ability to speak, Kurome. I would tell you just how wrong you are. _

The black eyed member of Night Raid walked over to her empty bed and fell onto it. She let a hoarse scream that was heard by everyone in the hideout. It was a scream of pure misery.

* * *

Hey everyone! Been awhile, hasn't it? Either way, a guest brought up an interesting point. I'm not sure if you've been following or reading my other fics, but one of the them, Hundred Ways to Fall in Love has an Akame x Kurome pairing. Also, as promised, updating this as well as everything else for a slightly belated Christmas present. Okay, maybe it's better for New Years.. but oh well.

I'm also starting to lose interest in this. I'm not happy with the way this storyline is going. So expect a major re-polish at some point this year.


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